Bring On The Night
by Witty Nickname
Summary: The poison of his blood runs dormant through my mother's veins, but not through mine. The soul of Dracula no longer flickers in his ashes, it rests beside mine. I will keep him forever contained. Crossover: Sky High, Dracula 2000, with bits of X-Men.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:  
**Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.

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**_- A Sky High crossover with Dracula 2000 and __very__small __bits of X-Men -_**

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**The X-Men aren't very big in this story, they're more of a background thing. The X-Men characters are like the ones from the Evolution cartoon (meaning that Rogue, Kitty, Kurt and most others are teens). **

**Obviously though, for the X-Men, this story is very much an AU. People are not afraid of mutants in the ****this story, and the X-Men are accepted for the heroes that they are.**

**Who I picture as the cast (My OC's):**

**Fiona: **Kimberly J. Brown

**Jake:** Hayden Christensen

**For those of you who haven't seen Dracula 2000, Dracula is played by Gerard Butler. In the movie Dracula is actually Judas Iscariot (the guy that betrays Jesus in the Bible). Check out IMDB for more Dracula 2000 characters and information.**

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_**Bring on the Night: Prologue**_

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_**"Long ago, Judas Iscariot tried to die for his sins...but he was denied. Today, the rope did not break...and he was burned in the first light of dawn. I am now the keeper of what remains. If the soul of Dracula still flickers in his ashes... I will keep it forever contained."**_

_Those were the words of Mary Van Helsing, and though her intentions were good, they had no real effect. However, she had no way of knowing that at the time. Dracula may be nothing but ash, and he may have released her from his curse... but what she hadn't realized is that he only released her. _

_He released her, and her alone. His body may be contained, but his blood cannot._

_At the age of thirty when a one night stand left her with child, she had been leery. She knew it was inevitable that she would pass his blood onto to her child; like her father before her. And also like her father she believed that her child would be safe as long as she was careful._

_Again, much like her father, she had been wrong. Very wrong._

_Mary gave birth to a beautiful raven haired, blue eyed baby girl. Their first week home Mary was terrified when her daughter started convulsing during a picnic with Simon, his wife Jenny and their three year old son Jake. _

_Rushing to the infirmary at the local Order headquarters (The Order is a demon hunting organization that she and Simon had taken over for her father after he died) she had been horrified to find that Dracula's blood was completely active in the baby - which hadn't happened when Mary was young. It was believed that unlike her father, who was stabbed by a staff with Dracula's blood on it, Mary had deeper connection with the vampire. Born of his blood, then later on in life allowing him to bite and claim her, therefore making a stronger bond between them. Which in effect had caused her child to inherit more than she ever did. _

_The baby was in every way a vampire, except for the fact that she had a heart beat. She was allergic to silver, the sun, and needed blood for nourishment. Though, for some reason, a cross would not burn her._

_They kept the girl hidden, feeding her with animal blood and keeping her well away from windows. Growing up inside the walls of the Order was a very tiring experience, and at the age of five she decided to rebel - unaware of what she really was. She was only a child, after all._

_Sneaking around her babysitters she giggled madly, making her way into one of the main courtyards that she had only ever seen in the moonlight. Smiling brightly as the sun hit her small frame, she ran towards the sandbox. Halfway there she dropped to her knee's screaming. _

_Security heard the screams and rushed towards her, but were forced to stop halfway; fire had engulfed the girl from head to toe. Her screams, becoming inhuman, began to echo through the compound. Mary and Simon quickly followed the sound with fear gripping their hearts. _

_Back in the courtyard the sound suddenly died. _

_Heart pounding, Mary pushed her way through the onlookers and stopped short with a gasp. The fire was slowly turning white, cleaning all the blackened skin it had previously charred. _

_The young girl laid there whimpering while it appeared to be healing her. As the final burn healed, the fire returned to its normal coloring before sucking itself into her skin. A completely healthy (and naked because her clothes had been burned to ash) five year old turned red eyes towards her mother before passing out._

_That was the day they learned the girl had the x-gene, apparently from her father. Mary, who had been embarrassed about the situation before, was now curious as to who the stranger she slept with had been. Sending Charles Xavier (a well known mutant, and a man she had met a few years earlier when his team encountered a vampire problem) a sample of her daughters blood to see if he could find out who the father was._

_Turns out that the father was John Allerdyce, aka Pyro. A member of the Brotherhood (a group of villains) who was currently in jail._

_A vampire, when exposed to the sun would normally burn to ash... but not if they could control fire. It seems that her mutant powers had been activated to save her, mixing with her natural vampire regeneration power it healed her. She was now a 'Daywalker'._

_The older she got the more violent she became, it was soon advised by Xavier that the girl should be trained with the Orders' Slayers. To give her a way to vent... plus, after all, what better way to rebel against Dracula then to fight against his children?_

_It was ironic that Dracula wanted to make the world in his image, yet the first pure one he had (in effect) created would be the one to bring their kind down. Or at least make one hell of a dent in its population. _

_Mary was constantly worried about her daughter. Not just because of the fighting, but out of fear for her soul. What if all these efforts were in vain? What if someday her baby fell into shadow with **him**? Mary herself had almost done the same thing - if it hadn't been for Lucy's words... well, she didn't like to think about that. _

_Occasionally she would still dream about, or actually, with him. But he was never as active and panicked as he used to be. He seemed strangely at peace. Mary often wondered if he communicated with her daughter and was relieved when the girl answered 'no' when she finally asked her._

She had no way of knowing that I was lying.

The poison of his blood runs dormant through my mother's veins. But not through mine. My connection with him is strong, it's as if I have another person in my head with me. But he's not intrusive, he does absolutely nothing to change the way I act. He rarely even speaks. Mother would never believe this though, she would say it was a trick.

She would probably be right; he is the ultimate betrayer.

I like to believe that I was made this way for a reason, not just a side effect of a curse for a sin that wasn't even mine.

Long ago, Judas Iscariot tried to die for his sins... but he was denied. The second time, in 2000, the rope did not break and he was burned in the first light of dawn. I am now the keeper of what remains. The soul of Dracula no longer flickers in his ashes; it rests beside mine. I will keep it forever contained.

I am Fiona Van Helsing, and I'm about to enter the most frightening fight of my life... high school.


	2. Chapter 1: He's Only Human

**Disclaimer:  
Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.**

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**_Chapter One_: He's Only Human**

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"Shoot me."

"I would Fi, but I doubt that it would have the effect either of us are wanting. 'Less it was a silver bullet... you're still allergic to that right?"

Fourteen year old Fiona Helsing glared at her friend Jake as she entered the small kitchen. "You could show a little compassion here."

Over at the stove, seventeen year old Jake Sheppard threw her a quick glance before returning to his pancakes in the skillet. "You're overreacting."

"I've never once set foot in a real school, and I was fine with that. Why do I have to go? It's a school for mutants," she whined.

Opening up the fridge, she pulled out a green thermos, and moved to sit at the counter. Twisting off the top, she proceeded to pour a thick red liquid into it.

"That's exactly why you need to go, you have absolutely no control over your fire power," Jake said. Putting his pancakes on a plate he joined her at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"I can walk around in the daylight without burning to death, what more do you people want?" Fiona asked, taking a large gulp of her drink. Jake grimaced at her actions.

"Do you have to do that while I'm eating?"

"You haven't taken a bite, so technically you're not eating just yet."

Smirking she took another sip. "Besides Jay, it's just a little blood."

Rolling his eyes he pushed his plate away from him in disgust. "The only reason you don't fry in the sun is because your power _automatically _activates to protect you. It has nothing to do with your control, or lack thereof," he stated, getting back to his earlier point.

"Good enough for me."

"For now maybe, but someday you're gonna wish you knew how to use it."

"I don't need it. I'm pretty well equipped without it," she countered dryly, extending her fangs.

"Just stop whining and get going before you miss the bus."

Growling at him she got up, stomping over to the back door she grabbed her dark green backpack and went outside, slamming the door behind her. Which, due to inhuman strength, ended up breaking the glass in it's window. Hearing the shattering, followed by Jakes loud (and quite creative) cussing she quickly sped down the road.

Reaching the bus stop she stopped running, panting slightly, looking over her shoulder worriedly. A minute or two ticked by without Jake appearing before she finally relaxed.

_'You act as if you're truly afraid of the boy,_' said a deep accented voice in the back of her head. Fiona rolled her eyes.

_'Was I blocking you out or something that day he managed to tie me to a tree and pelt me with paint balls?'_ she asked her 'other half' sarcastically.

Silence was the only reply she received. Not that that was unusual; Dracula rarely spoke to her. It was always maybe a few words (insults half the time to the people around her) and then he'd go all quiet. If her mother knew just how deep her connection with Dracula ran, there's no telling what she would do.

That's the reason why Fiona never told anyone about him. Could you imagine the looks she'd constantly get if people knew that he basically lived in her head? Hell, she still had issue's with it; try taking a shower when you know there's someone else (especially an old dead guy) that can see everything you see, _through_ your own eyes. It was creepy.

Fiona had always felt a little strange, and knew things she'd never actually been taught. It was as if there was another mind inside her own silently guiding her. It wasn't until the age of nine that the silence was completely shattered. She remembered it perfectly; she and Jake had been sitting inside a dark black van watching through tinted windows as Simon (Jake's dad) and his team went on a raid at a local park, having been tipped off that it was a current favorite for the vampires to hunt in.

Turned out to be an ambush.

Half of his men were dead in seconds, and it was easy to see that Simon was starting to have a hard time holding out himself. As Simon fell to his knee's she remembered seeing red, pulling open the car door she'd let instinct take over. The moment her small foot hit the ground outside of the van a feeling of worry washed over her... but it wasn't hers. That was the first time she'd ever been able to feel Dracula's feelings separately from her own. He must have lost control in his panic - a move that definitely cost him.

Ignoring the weird feeling she had raced towards the vampire hovering over Simon. That's when a male voice had suddenly started shouting at her to run back to the van, to get somewhere safe.

Once again she ignored it.

Fiona had felt nothing but rage; hers and his. Hers was from being afraid for Simon, and Dracula's was because she wasn't obeying him; something that after that day she never did again. It's hard to secretly control someone if they know you're there.

By letting the anger take over she had completely blocked him out.

And then herself too apparently.

All she remembered was jumping on the female vampire that was attacking Simon before a bright light flooded her vision. Fi was completely blinded by it, all she could see was white all around her.

When her vision finally returned she was standing over her uncle, who was staring up in disbelief at her. Blood coated her small hands and beheaded bodies littered the ground around them.

After that she'd been allowed to train with the Slayers, but thankfully she'd never lost control like that again. She just chalked it up to her first time, and the stress of a loved one being in danger.

Fiona was pulled from her thoughts as a school bus pulled up in front of her. The yellow doors slid open to reveal a plump driver with a friendly face behind the wheel. Giving a small smile Fiona stepped inside.

"Is this the bus to Sky-mmf!"

Apparently the friendly fat fellow wasn't all that friendly. He was now glaring at her and had his hand was clamped tightly over her mouth. If only he knew how dangerous that area was...

"Do you want every super-villain in the neighborhood to know we're here?" he hissed in a whisper to her before removing his hand. Closing the door he got back in his seat behind the wheel.

"Sorry," she replied meekly, praying she didn't blush. It was probably normal to get scolded on your first day of school; just not by the bus driver. This was already off to a good start.

Ignoring the light snickers coming from the others on the bus, she turned around to find a seat. Unfortunately the only empty seat was behind the driver. Rolling her eyes at her luck she sat down.

Starting up the bus he glanced at her in his mirror. "I'm Ron Wilson, Bus Driver. What's your name freshman?" said Ron in an official tone.

The man was very proud of his job it seemed, she could even hear the capitals in his words.

"I'm Fiona Sheppard, bus rider," she replied with a nervous smile, using her fake name. It was easier than using Helsing or Allerdyce for obvious reasons.

A few snickers could be heard at her reply, but she didn't acknowledge them. Instead she caught Ron's gaze in the mirror and gave him a sincere smile, hoping he knew she had just been playing and not really insulting him. She really needed to start watching what she said to people before she ended up insulting them by accident. It wasn't her fault really, she just wasn't very used to dealing with people. She spent most of her time at the Orders HQ in Massachusetts where the only people who really talked with her was her mother, Jake, Simon, and Simon's wife Jenny.

The only other people there was always too busy to really deal with anything aside from their work. Demon hunting is a stressful and time consuming business, after all.

She was about to say something to Ron again but was cut off as straps suddenly sprung out of the seat, fastening around her. Hearing gasps and more clicking sounds behind her let her know that she wasn't the only one strapped in.

Looking out the window she noticed that the road seemed to have a drop off... hearing Ron snicker in front her she snapped her eyes back towards him. He wasn't going to actually drive off that was he? Is he insane?

His eyes met hers in the mirror and he smiled.

Oh. Dear. God.

Screams soon filled the air, Fiona's along with them.

* * *

The freshman bus was always the last to arrive at Sky High, and many older students would always hang around out front to watch the newbies arrive, always white faced and trembling from the ride. This year was no different.

The first one that came bounding off the bus was a young girl with waist length black hair framing a small oval face with a very pale complexion. She wore light colored jeans and a red t-shirt that was clearly one size too big.

Stumbling away from the bus she lifted her head and glared around with two deep blue colored eyes, which upon noticing the crowd narrowed. It sounded like she growled, but none could be certain because they were too far away.

* * *

Fiona didn't know whether to be mad or amused at what had just happened. Deciding to ignore the crowd that had apparently been waiting on them, she turned to watch the other new kids stumble out behind her.

Out of them all only one caught her attention; he was tall and dressed all in black with long black hair covering his face. His look was obviously a 'don't mess with me' statement. Complete with a leather jacket and what looked like steel toed boots.

That's not what caught her attention though; she saw bad ass broody looking rocker/goth guys all the time... and then usually had to kill them. Evil dead and all that. But no, what made her (and everyone else) notice him was the fact that he appeared unaffected by the whole trip. Unlike everyone else he strolled off the bus and gazed around through his curtain of ebony hair nonchalantly.

He moved to lean against the side of the bus and crossed his arms, tossing his head slightly to move his hair out of his eyes, making his face visible. Every male in the area groaned silently in annoyance, and every girl sighed as their hearts skipped a beat. Literally. Vampire hearing made it possible for Fiona to hear it. Though, she had never really thought that a heart 'skipping a beat' could happen... might not be healthy.

While pondering this thought two older boys made a big show of their powers and announced themselves as Lash and Speed. Then informed them all about new student fee's or something, she hadn't really been listening.

Her enhanced senses picked up something moving towards her, turning her head back towards the crowd she saw that Lash (at least she thought that was his name) with his hand stretching towards her. At the moment it was several paces away, pausing as her attention focused on him.

Meeting her gaze he smirked, pulling his arm back he strolled up to her, Speed right behind him. All the other new kids around tried to scoot away unnoticed.

_'Crap, bullies,'_ Fiona thought anxiously to herself.

"I see you were ignoring our welcome speech; that was rude. What's your name and power freshman?" asked Lash when he reached her. His stood 6ft, Speed was maybe and inch or two smaller than him. Either way, they both towered over her 5ft frame. Not that she was intimidated though.

Okay, actually, she was a little, but Jake had warned her about bullies. He instructed her not to back down, and to put them in their place as soon as she could. Once they knew she wasn't scared they would back off.

Putting on an overly perky smile she grabbed his hand and shook it.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude, I was just still in shock over your powers, they were _so _cool! My name's Master, Master Sheppard."

Okay, not exactly a threat, but the result would be funny if it worked.

Lash and Speed looked at each other in confusion, unsure if she was being serious or mocking them. The other freshmen, having heard her real name on the bus, all shared a look of amusement.

"Master?" Lash finally asked, rubbing his hand when she finally let it go (she'd been shaking it with just a bit of extra strength).

"Oh yeah," she continued in a fake chirpy tone. "my mother's a hippie, believing in the power of names... so, yeah, I kinda got stuck," she added a sheepish smile and ducked her head shyly for the effect.

They boys looked at each other one last time and shrugged; she seemed to be serious.

"Well Master, welcome to Sky High," Lash finally said, then repeated his speech to her from earlier. It took everything she had not to start laughing.

"But, for you Master, I think we can make an exception on the fee's," Speed said when Lash finished. Lash nodded in agreement, both of them completely missing the other freshmen holding their hands over their mouths each time they said her name.

"Exception? For me? Really?" she asked innocently, eyes twinkling with mirth, which they thought to be excitement.

_'This is easy,'_ she thought to herself.

_'Nothing is ever easy my love, there's always something to complicate things,' _came a familiar voice in her mind. Before she could ask what he meant (and scold him for calling her 'love' - must he always speak so dramatically? He did it to bug her, she just knew it.) Lash was suddenly right in front of her, barely any space at all left between them.

"Yes, just for you Master. One little kiss each, and you can keep your lunch money," he said, smirking down at her. Speed grinned from beside him and tapped his index finger against his own cheek happily.

Okay, now that made her pause. Mind racing, she informed him that she brought her own lunch.

"Ah, well Master, one kiss and you get to keep the lunch you brought."

The thought of them taking her lunch reminded her of the time Jake had wanted to try her 'food' for himself once. The memory made her lose all control and bust out laughing. Which in effect made the other freshmen around her lose their control too. They were laughing about the name thing instead, though.

"I doubt your stomach would allow you to keep what I call food down," she said in her normal voice when she calmed down, dropping the fake peppy one.

Speed and Lash glared around at the laughing teens in confusion. "What's so funny?" Speed hissed, glaring at everyone. Of course that only made them laugh harder. The only one unmoved by the whole scene seemed to be that rocker boy who was still leaning on the bus, in a dramatic arms-crossed-model pose, watching with detached interest.

Shaking her head Fiona started to reply when a pretty brown haired girl appeared out of nowhere and shooed the two bullies away. She introduced herself as Gwen and welcomed them all to Sky High.

Fiona, along with the other new kids, followed her into the school. Listening intently as she explained Power Placement.

"Sooo, it's like Hogwarts?" asked some blond girl in the group, as they entered the gym. Gwen turned to her and gave a patient smile. "Something like that."

"Cool. I call Gryffindor," said another girl, this one with brown hair and glasses.

As soon as Gwen left them, Principle Powers entered the gym (and what an entrance it was! The woman could turn into balls of light... of course, in Fi's opinion, that was a sucky power. How the heck do you fight with those?) and gave them all an encouraging, yet short, welcome speech before she disappeared in the same way she came.

A loud whistle made the whole group of teens whip around. The sight that greeted them was one that Fiona felt she had the right to sue the school over. Standing there wearing a pair of shorts that was far to short for any man his age to be wearing, was Coach Boomer. Once known as Sonic Boom.

He gave a short, yet passionate, speech about whiner babies then began to call up students for placement. Two sidekicks and one hero later it was her turn.

"YOU! PALEFACE!" he yelled pointing at her.

Was he allowed to just insult kids like that? It wasn't her fault she couldn't catch a tan, the sun rays are just slightly more lethal to her than most. Climbing up the stairs she walked to stand in front of him.

"State your name and power."

"Fiona Sheppard: flame control."

Boomer squinted at his clipboard for a second. "You sure that's your name?" he asked.

"Fiona _Lucille_ Sheppard," she tried. He looked at her blankly. "At any point did you get a special note from the principal about a _special_ student this year?" she asked quietly so the other kids didn't hear.

"Listen kid, I don't have all day," he ranted impatiently at her.

Damn. Quickly glancing out at the others she debated as to which of her names was the lesser evil. Fighting back a slight tick in her left eye she looked back to Boomer.

"Fiona Lucille _Allerdyce," _she whispered to him.

**"Allerdyce!" **he cried in shock. The crowd instantly started whispering. Loosing the fight she felt her left eye start twitching rapidly.

Boomer looked down at his clipboard and it seemed he finally connected the dots. "Ah, yes, Fiona Lucille Alle**y**dice Sheppard," he stumbled, trying to hide the name. It was no use though.

If the other teachers are even half this stupid she was so not coming back. Fi only prayed that she could make it through the day without ripping someone's throat out. Literally.

At least they didn't know about the Helsing thing. It was easier to be bugged about a famous jailbird daddy then about an ancient evil fighting family. Answering questions about magic, Dracula, demons, spells, and potions would just be exhausting and unending.

Turning a page over on his clipboard, Boomer quickly backed up from her; seems he knew about the Helsing thing too. There was only a select few groups that knew about the Helsing Daywalker, and since she'd be attending Sky High her mother thought it best to let the staff know. Couldn't chance them doing something that could harm her baby. Like have a random room made fully of silver that she could stumble into.

No, seriously.

That was one of her mother's arguments when Simon had been against telling the staff.

"Power?" Boomer asked again, still a little flustered.

Pulling her zippo out of her pocket she flicked it on. "Flame control," she stated pulling the fire into her hand.

"You mean pyrokinesis," he corrected, writing something down by her name.

"**CAR**!" he yelled. Fiona nimbly flipped out of the way (extinguishing the flame mid-air) and landed in crouch off stage in front of the other teens.

"I can't control it that well! The strongest I can make it is about the same strength as a sparkler!" she yelled, glaring up at him and the beat up car that now sat where she stood just seconds ago. He was insane!

Hopping back up on stage she waited, slightly miffed, for her placement. Boomer pressed a button on the small remote in his hand causing the car to raise back up. "Is that all you can do?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

What? Did he think she was going to show her vampiric skills? Maybe turn into a bat and fly around the freaking room?

"Yes," she replied evenly, trying to keep her cool. The crowd covered their ears as he let out his loudest 'boom' yet.

"_**SIDE-KICK!**__"_

Fiona simply stood there appearing unaffected, instead of flying off the stage as the other kids before her had on lesser 'booms'.

She didn't even flinch.

She really, _**really**_ wanted to though. She had enhanced hearing for heaven's sake! It hurt like hell, but pride had refused to let her back down.

"Hufflepuff it is then," she quipped, hopping back off the stage.

* * *

_'I got screwed!' _Fiona fumed silently to herself as she entered the cafeteria. She'd been made a side-kick, but the rocker boy had the same powers and Boomer made him a hero! Okay, granted, he could actually control _and_ create fire, but who's to say that she wouldn't be able to do that one day? Wasn't that what she was here to learn?

At first she thought it was because of her father being a villain, but was corrected when she heard the boy's name.

Warren Peace, son of Barren Battle.

The only other reason she could think of was that Boomer didn't believe a vampire could be good. Which was ridiculous, she'd been fighting evil for a few years now.

Sort of.

Besides, if she was evil did he really think he'd still be breathing after dropping a car on her, and then practically busting her ear-drums? The man needed a serious reality check.

After her placement, Fiona (and everyone else) was given her schedule and locker number. After ten minutes of searching she finally found her locker, only to find that the combination didn't work. Not having time to find the office to request a new one she just went ahead to her first class.

Hero Support. All she could really say about the class was that Mr. Boy was adorable, especially when he was trying to act unaffected around Fiona. But it was useless, she could hear his heart beat increase and smell his fear around her. Normally she would be offended, but somehow with him it was funny.

After that was Mad Science; that whole experience had been...well, it had been something. She was just going to leave it at that.

On top of everything else she'd been hiding from Speed and Lash in the halls all day. It seems they found out her real name. Every other kid in her class was talking about it (though they didn't know she could hear them) and eventually the word spread.

The children of Barren Battle _and_ Pyro are attending are year! Apparently this is extremely news worthy, and shortly after her first class everyone was talking about it. Word spreads way too fast in high school; she made a mental note to be more careful.

Everyone seems to think having Warren and her here is an exciting event. Fiona, on the other hand, couldn't shake the thought that the situation seemed oddly cliche. She just couldn't figure out why though...

Many were already predicting that the two would soon be close friends, maybe even help each other break out their fathers. That one had Fiona laughing her ass off for a while. Like she would be anything to him - like _anyone_ would be anything to him.

The boy had serious social issue's, and coming from Fiona that really said something.

Girls were trying to hit on him all day, even a few seniors, and every single one of them walked away fuming or broken hearted at his dismissals. A few with grabby hands was even scorched. Not much, just slightly; if they use eyeliner pencils to draw back in their eyebrows, they'll be as good as new.

When Fiona wasn't dodging Lash and Speed, or laughing at the rumors, she was busy trying to get around the few kids in her class brave enough to bug her about her father. Fiona was beyond ready to go home, and it was only lunch!

This day was never going to end.

Plopping down ungracefully at an empty table she looked around the large cafeteria for Lash and Speed. Not seeing them anywhere, she let out a sigh of relief. Quickly pulling out her thermos she poured herself some lunch. Fiona almost choked mid-drink as an arm snaked around her waist. Looking up she saw Lash hovering over her.

"Hello _Master_, I've been hunting for you all morning."

Straddling the bench beside her he sat down to face her, as Speed suddenly appeared out of nowhere with two trays of food. Sitting down across from them he pushed one towards Lash.

"Thanks buddy. Now, where exactly have you been hiding, Fi?" asked Lash in a friendly voice, letting go of her waist and eating a chip off his plate.

Fiona looked at him in shock; she could feel no anger coming off of him. "You're not mad?"

"At first, but we got over it... we do have a sense of humor."

"Oooh, translation: who'd be stupid enough bully the daughter of Pyro?"

"That too," Speed said, taking a bite of his sandwich. Fiona glanced back and forth between them before smiling tiredly. "Works for me."

* * *

The day started to look up after lunch. Turns out Lash and Speed are handy to have around; no one else dared to sit at the table with them. Which gave her a break from all the crowds. Hopefully she would get used to having a lot of people around, or else this whole thing would end badly. She couldn't chance attacking someone if they suddenly set her off by accident. She may not be evil, but she was still a vampire; part of her was very primal, and sometimes she couldn't control her actions. Mostly this only happened after sunset, but she hated chancing it.

She was going to have to learn to be mean enough to keep people away, but Fiona doubted she could do that. She was just too nice (go figure) to tell people off for no reason.

Unlike Mr. Peace who seemed to have no trouble at all claiming, and keeping, a table all for himself. On his first day as a freshman no less. She was seriously going to have to study him because whatever he was doing worked. One small glare from him and everyone flinched in fear. Including Fiona. People even took longer routes around the cafeteria to avoid passing his table. Lash and Speed even seemed a little scared of him.

Fiona was surprised to learn that those two are very friendly when they wanted to be. And to her they definitely wanted to be. They're under the impression that since Pyro is part of the Brotherhood (a famous team of villains) that one visit, call, letter or email to daddy could wind up getting them killed. She didn't feel like correcting them.

They'd also been very helpful to her besides keeping the other kids away. They showed her around the school, helped her get signed up for a new locker combination, and even helped carry her books until she got it.

The day had gone on nicely until gym.

Entering the gym last with the other freshmen sidekicks, she searched for a seat in the crowded bleachers. There was only one space not over populated with people, and that was a very wide section around Warren. Man, she seriously needed to find out how he did that.

Not willing to put up with a bunch of chatty people, and unable to spot Lash or Speed, she had no other choice but sit by him. Well, she did, but she couldn't deal with the suffocating feeling these kids were bound to give her. Taking a deep breath she quickly walked up and sat on the bleachers behind him. She didn't need her enhanced senses to see his whole body tense, or to hear the whispers of those close by who noticed her choice of seating.

His head slowly, in a very creepy-horror-movie-fashion, turned to face her. Two smoldering dark eyes met hers, causing Fiona to gasp. She could practically _see_ the fire in them.

_'Don't be scared; you're a big bad vamp,' _was what she started chanting to herself in her head. Not that it helped.

"Who said you could sit there?" Warren asked, his voice low and gruff from lack of use.

Forcing herself to remain calm she looked at him in what she hoped was an unintimidated way. "Listen, this is only seat available where a bunch of people won't be bugging me... all I want is silence. I promise not to bother you."

He continued to stare at her for a minute before nodding slightly and turning back towards the gym floor. It was only now that she noticed that the entire gym floor had been made into an arena of sorts. Boomer soon came out, followed by Speed and Lash who were introduced as the champions for a game called save the citizen.

Ten minutes later Fiona was shaking her head in awe. These people truly are insane. They called this a game? It was brutal! Like those stupid little outfits really did anything to protect them.

"Alright boys," Boomer yelled out to Lash and Speed. "Clear the floor, we're gonna let some freshmen play. One on one."

The older students looked confused. "One on one? He's never done that before..." came a few whispers.

"Since when are freshmen allowed to play on their first day?" asked others.

"WARREN PEACE! FIONA SHEPPARD! GET DOWN HERE!"

Silence followed Boomer's order. Fiona gulped and slowly made her way down with Warren close behind.

_'I can do this... I've faced worse then him,' _she reminded herself as she entered the arena.

"No training suits, so go easy... but not too easy. I want to see how you handle this without being coddled. Okay, lady's first, you want to be the Hero or Villain?" Boomer asked from up in his little lifeguard box thingy.

Is he allowed to do this? There has to be some rules against this sort of thing! No training suits? One on one on their first day? Fiona _did not_ want to be involved in this game. What if she snapped and hurt someone?

This is what she gets for mocking those training outfits.

"Hero," she stated quietly. Though because of the silence that still covered the gym, it was easily heard by everyone.

"Alright then, _**SHEPPARD: HERO! PEACE: VILLAIN! GO!**_"

Boomer started the clock with a sadistic little smile, making Fiona realize that he'd done this purposely. He just wanted to see who would win a fight between the offspring of Barren Battle and Pyro. Rolling her eyes in disgust she turned towards her opponent.

Fiona's heart froze when she caught sight of the furious look on Warrens face. Apparently he hadn't wanted to play either... but, unfortunately, he seemed ready to rise to the occasion.

'_Just breathe,_' she thought to herself. '_After all, he's only a human_."

* * *

"Honey! I'm home!" Fiona yelled slamming the front door shut behind her. Throwing down her backpack she followed Jakes voice towards the front room. She spotted him on the couch talking on the phone.

"No dad, everythings fine... aunt Molly checked in on us a while ago. Yes, Fi went to school on time... no the school hasn't called for any reason yet."

Jake lifted his head to smirk at her when he said that, but paused in horror at her appearance. "Uh, yeah dad... listen I gotta get going. Yeah, yeah, no, talk to you later. Bye."

Hanging up the phone he was at her side in an instant. "What the hell happened to you!" he exclaimed.

Fiona stood before him with singed jeans, a burnt up shirt, black soot smeared across her face, and looked to be missing a couple of inches off her hair.

"I got my ass kicked. By a _human,_" she said slowly, her tone clearly showed of her disbelief.

"No way!"

"Yes way! He was a pyro too... only better."

"That shouldn't have been enough to stop you."

"I could only use my mutant power! I couldn't go around using my vamp skills, I would have ended up killing him! Besides, he was kinda scary."

"Well that sucks."

"Is that all you have to say? A little comfort would be nice. I'm never going to live this down."

"I'm sure everyone will forget about it by tomorrow. And you're bound to do better next tim- hey, is that _my_ shirt?"

"...Oh, heh. Sorry?"


	3. Chapter 2: Truths After Sunset

**Disclaimer:  
Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

**_Chapter Two:_ Truths After Sunset**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

Fiona is a typical super teen; moody, quirky, lovable, irritating, vain, bratty, and unsure of herself at times. But when the sun set she has a slight personality change. The need to hunt overtakes the usually shy teen. Feelings of insecurity faded into an unshakable confidence, and all weakness seems to disappear.

Today's events had only served to add fuel to her bloodthirsty attitude this night. Some might think that fighting the undead is a scary job that not much else could top. Whoever believed that obviously never went to high school.

_'I can't believe I just let a human toss me around like that,' _she fumed silently to herself.

Granted, Warren is strong and very frightening, but she was strong too! She just wasn't allowed to show her true self. It wasn't fair. She should have punched that pretty brooding face of his, grabbed him by that irritating hair and hurled him through the freaking ceiling... oh, who was she kidding, she would never _intentionally_ hurt a human. Regular or mutant.

Fiona snorted to herself in disgust. She had no problem handling vampires or any other demons, but when faced with a human she would always back down. It was all her mothers fault for drilling it into her head to be a good little Christian.

Acting out and hurting someone weaker than herself would make her just like _him - _that's what her mother always told her.

Of course 'him' would be Dracula; the permanent pain in her ass. Every time Fiona acts in any way 'bad' her mother nearly has a heart attack, thinking that she's gone evil.

Because of this, whenever faced with a human (such as Warren, or even the bus driver who dared to scold and touch her) she has no other option then to let her backbone melt. Jake usually took care of things like this for her. The problem with this situation however, was that he didn't go to school with her. No, he was lucky and got to be schooled by The Order's personal teachers via Internet.

Fiona's mental rantings was interrupted as her spidey sense started tingling as she passed a small park. Finally! She was starting to think the only evil in this town was of the mutant variety. Pausing mid-step she closed her eyes to concentrate on the feeling.

Grabbing onto the familiar vampiric trace that was staining the area Fiona opened her, now red, eyes. Giving a full fanged grin she happily followed the trail that was invisible to human eyes. Entering a wooded area of the park Fiona suddenly froze. This didn't feel right.

She always felt a small bond with vampires; an odd feeling of family, which technically they are, but these felt like strangers.

_'What's going on?' _she thought to herself.

It was Dracula who answered that question, much to her surprise. "_Something __beyond you. Leave this place,_" he ordered.

He should have known better than that. Lifting her head defiantly she continued on the path. Her enhanced senses failed to warn her of the oncoming threat.

She screamed as a body suddenly landed in front of her on the path, another landing just behind it only seconds later. Two male vampires stood before her... only they didn't look right. Their eyes wasn't the normal red of a vampire, instead they were black; their hair blindingly white, and both looked to be well over 6ft with identical facial features. Even their clothes matched; dark dress slacks, long sleeve button down white shirts, and shiny black shoes.

Despite their odd appearance, they were definitely vampires. Her senses could tell her that much.

"Looks like you boys have been into the peroxide. Not a good look for most, but you're pulling it off," she said after recovering from her scare.

The one closest to her smiled, reveling not one, but _two_ sets of fangs; top and bottom. "So this is Fiona Helsing, Dracula's purebred? I thought you'd be taller," he said with a deep voice with a slight Irish accent.

"I thought she'd be older," stated the other one, walking around his companion, eyes trained solely on Fiona. His friend placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him from moving closer to her.

"Of course not Zephon; '_And a little child shall lead them._' remember?" he asked with a smirk.

Both gave a small chuckle... apparently Fiona is missing the joke in that. "Who are you?" she demanded coolly.

"Ah, yes, I've forgotten my manners," said the first one. "My name is Cael, and this is my brother Zephon."

"Let me rephrase that," Fiona huffed. "_What _are you?"

"Cute isn't she?" Zephon asked his brother with a smile. While the smile did in fact reach his eyes, Fiona could still see the malice hidden in the action.

"We are two followers of the Mother who was curious to meet you," Cael answered her, ignoring his brother's words.

"You're a vampire... but somethings wrong with you," she said, letting her confusion finally show. Cael grinned.

"We are true vampires, more pure than any of Judas' brats could ever be. We are the First Born."

"Huh?"

"It doesn't matter that you understand, only that you answer one thing for us," Zephon said, starting to sound a little impatient with her lack of comprehension.

"Now why would I do that?"

"Because you give us what we want, and we'll leave you alone," Cael answered.

A beat.

"Well, in that case, what's your question?" Fiona asked, curious despite herself.

"Where are Dracula's remains?"

Fiona could practically feel Dracula tense... which is just very weird. "_Do not answer them."_

_"Funny, I thought you wanted someone to break you out," _she replied back to him.

"Who are you speaking to?" Cael said, interrupting her mental conversation.

Fiona raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"Do not play with us Helsing, we can feel the telepathy in use."

"Sucky power; you can feel it in use, but can't hear it. I'd ask for a refund."

"You know, I've always wanted to find out the strength and skill of the Helsing line," Zephon threatened lightly.

"And I'm sad to say that if you do not answer our question, I'm going to let Zephon _feed_ his curiosity," Cael added, his tone and expression the classic one that all overly dramatic villains use when threatening people. Especially if a bad pun is involved. If he had had a mustache, Fiona was certain he'd be twirling it with his fingers.

Fiona smiled brightly. "Bring it on boys. I've been needing this all day."

* * *

"This is so not my day," Fiona growled, walking down a dimly lit street.

By looking at her you'd never guess that anything was amiss, except for the smudges of dirt on her jeans, and the few grass stains on her white tank top. Thanks to her regeneration power all the bruises and broken bones healed already. Twice in one day she'd had her ass handed to her, and it was really pissing her off. But what surprised her the most about the whole thing was that even though Zephon and Cael were winning before she got away, they never once tried to bite her.

The closest either had gotten to her neck was when Cael snapped it.

Rounding the corner, Fiona was assaulted by the smell of food. Deciding she'd earned herself a snack she headed towards a small restaurant called The Paper Lantern.

Unlike other vampires her body was alive, so it was capable of digesting regular food. She didn't need it to survive like she did blood, but she did have a craving for it now and then. And right now she was in desperate need of comfort food.

"_So, they old friends of yours_?" she asked her 'inner buddy' mentally as she entered the restaurant.

Silence was her reply. Rolling her eyes, Fiona moved to the closest empty booth (though there was many to choose from, the place was empty) and sank down in it tiredly. "_Why is it that we can only chat when __**you**__ want to_?" she whined to him.

"_It is nothing you need to be concerned about, just make sure they stay away from my body,_" was his clipped reply.

"_How very helpful of you_."

"_The only better advice I can give you Fiona, is to let me out yourself." _

_"Yeah right. We've had this conversation before."_

_"Actually no, my dear, we haven't."_

Fiona paused in thought for a second. _"Oh, right... I've just been preparing myself for it. Sorry." _

A faint chuckle was the only reply she got.

"Can I take your order?" came a smooth deep voice above her. Looking up Fiona jumped a little in shock. Standing in front of her, with his hair pulled back and wearing an apron, was Warren Peace.

"Warren?" she stammered.

His eyes seemed to widen slightly in recognition. "Sheppard? What are you doing here?"

She blinked. "I'm hungry."

"Oh, right... what can I get you?" he asked, seeming to have recovered.

"Umm... is there anyway I can just get some fortune cookies?"

It was his turn to blink. "Cookies?" he echoed faintly.

"Yeah, I'll pay for it, just a small bowl full or something?"

Warren gave her a bewildered glance. "I'll be right back."

Fiona watched as he disappeared into the back before she pulled out her wallet. Counting her money she absently eavesdropped on Warren in the kitchen... but didn't catch a word of it. He and some woman back there was talking in Chinese. Fiona was startled when Dracula gave off a wave of amusement, it took her only a minute of confusion before she realized why; he could understand them.

_"What are they saying?"_ she asked curiously.

_"Now that would be rude of me,"_ he replied primly.

_"Oh don't give me that crap! You're already breaking the rules of etiquette by listening to them!"_

_"Yes, and I feel it would make a bad impression on you if I allowed myself to sink any further." _

_"You are __**so**__ evil,"_ she pouted.

"What's with the pout?"

Looking up once again, she saw Warren there holding a small box. Tossing it on the table in front of her, he slid into the booth across from her.

"What's this?" she asked ignoring his question and picking up the box. Fortune Cookies? She squinted her eyes at him in questioning.

"I got it from the stock room, we only pay five bucks a box for them, so..." he trailed off pointing to the money in her hand. Nodding in understanding she handed him a ten.

"Keep the change."

"Thanks."

A few seconds ticked by in which Fiona just stared at him. Finally getting irritated he snapped at her. "What are you looking at?"

"Just wondering why you're still sitting here."

Fiona could have sworn he almost blushed at his own blunder. To his credit though, her senses didn't catch any other indication of embarrassment.

"Oh yeah, well, I kinda wanted to talk to you- _**now**_ why are you looking at me like that?"

"You... you're just..." she struggled for the right word.

"I'm what?"

"You're not all growly."

Warren gave a half smile and leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table. "Would you like me to be?"

"Might make this less awkward."

"Talking to me is awkward?"

"Actually it's a little scary, one wrong word and my ass could get fried."

"Why do you act scared of me?"

"That a trick question?"

"You're not really afraid of me."

"...Okay?"

"I saw you when we fought; you held back."

"And you didn't. Thanks for that by the way."

"So you admit it, but why did you do that? Afraid you'd hurt me? I can take a hit you know," Warren asked, irritation once again overcoming him. Damn, coach Boomer was right, he really was a hothead.

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't believe in violence?"

"No."

"Then I guess you'll never know."

Getting up from the table she grabbed her cookies and headed for the door, only to be stopped halfway as Warren called out to her.

"Why didn't you tell Boomer that your an Indestructible?"

Fiona slowly turned back towards him. "What?"

Getting up quickly, he stalked towards her. Now hovering inches from her, he looked down at Fi with an unreadable expression. "You regenerate. I threw a few extreme fireballs and you healed instantly. I barely saw it myself, it was that fast, but it happened."

"My reasons are none of your concern Peace, so drop it." she growled lowly, now a little irritated herself. She had thought she was so careful!

"I don't want to," he said, tone matching hers. She hated to admit it, but his voice sent chills down her spine... but not from fear. He radiated heat, more so than most humans. His heart was also starting to pump faster as his agitation grew. Fiona's eyes were drawn to his jugular because of it. Eyes narrowing at his neck, she felt a familiar lust start to take over. All it would take was one little bite and she could keep this dark pyro forever...

AHH! Dramatic homicidal thoughts! Slapping herself mentally she turned and walked away from him again. She knew better than to interact with humans after sundown. That's when her vampiric nature is at it's strongest, but, like an idiot, she still did it. She needed to get out of there.

"Yes you do. Keep asking and you might meet the real me," she advised him warily.

Warren didn't follow her this time. "So?" he asked, standing where she left him.

"You might not survive it," Fiona answered truthfully, disappearing out the door.

* * *

Entering through the back door (that had a black trash bag covering the broken window, help up by duct tape) Fiona entered her kitchen. Sitting down at the table she opened her cookies. Taking a bite of one she shook her head ruefully at her earlier actions. True, Warren was gorgeous, but there was no way she was going there. Or ever would with a human. After all, she was immortal.

She only had one partner for life, and he was an annoying voice in her head. There was no way she could ever put up with another man in her life like that. Which is why marriage and stuff like that was far off her list. Unless she got rid of Dracula... but there was only one way to do that, and that was out of the question.

Her actions regarding Warren didn't mean anything though, it was just a normal reaction. Hell, more than once she's even oogled Jake. Who wouldn't? He was tall, around 6ft, with light blue eyes, black spiky hair adorning his head in a cute, yet messy, fashion; his features sharp and he had thick pouty lips. The boy was a model waiting to be discovered.

Heck Lash, and even Speed, was cute. Didn't mean she'd be declaring love anytime soon. What had happened earlier was more of a vampires need to claim others. It's happened to her a million times before.

The only male she was willing (forced) to spend her life with was Dracula. It has taken a long time to get to where they are now in their relationship; she did what she wanted, and he sat back quietly (mostly) and watched. He had long since learned not to try and sweet talk her into doing things. His famous thrall was wasted on her.

"_Is it_?" he asked smoothly, bringing her away from her thoughts.

_"Oh please, you know there's no way you'll ever turn me." _

"_There's a difference between trying to sway a child, and trying to sway a woman... and you, my dear, are getting older by the day_. _Soon you'll see the light_."

"_You're wrong_," she replied firmly.

"_Everything you are is mine... and all that I am is yours. One day you will not deny me_._"_

_"As long as you're ash, you're mine. You will play by my rules 'cause this is my body." _

_"But I won't be contained forever Fiona, deep down you know this. It's not a question of 'if' but 'when'." _

Fiona started to reply but suddenly stopped herself. She was shaken to realize she had no reply, because deep down she knew he was right. Though, aloud , she would never admit it. Numbly she looked down at the small paper in her hand.

**'Help! I'm being held prisoner in a Chinese bakery.'**  
Your lucky numbers are: 4, 35, 7, 66, 56, 53

Raising an eyebrow she gave a meek grin. "Huh."


	4. Chapter 3: Sapphyre

**Disclaimer:  
Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

**_Chapter Three_: Sapphyre**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

_**RING **_

_**RING**_

_**RING **_

_**RING**_

"Come on Jake," Fiona muttered into the phone.

_**RING**_

_**RING**_

Sighing in irritation she bent down to tie her boots, holding her cell between her ear and shoulder.

_**RING **_

_**RING**_

Boots now tied she stood up and headed downstairs. "Dammit! PICK UP!" she growled.

_**RING**_

"Hello?" came a groggy voice from the other end.

"Finally!" Fiona snapped at him. "What took so long?"

"...It's 6:30 in the morning?"

Grabbing her backpack from the kitchen table, she headed out the back door, pausing outside to lock it behind her. "You should still be up... don't tell me Simon actually let you sleep in."

"Well, seeing as how we only made it to bed an hour or two ago..." Jake let the sentence trail off, but Fi understood what he meant.

"Who did they attack this time?" she asked quietly, slowing unconsciously in her stride towards the road .

"Rick and Tiara Johnson."

"But they're just teachers for the Order, not record keepers or slayers."

"Seems our new _friends _are trying a new tactic; kill any and all members they can get a hold of."

"Do you know if they talked?"

"Couldn't be sure, but by the looks of what was left, they was definitely tortured. We had to move Dracula's remains again just in case."

Fiona walked down the sidewalk shaking her head, "This has to stop... has your research pulled up anything yet?"

"Nothing solid. There's vampire myths in every culture around the world - there's no telling which one they could be bred from, or if they're something new all together."

"No, they were definitely old... I could feel it."

"Too bad we can't just resurrect Dracula for ten minutes and interrogate him," Jake said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"Somehow, I doubt he'd be helpful," Fiona's muttered, her tone clearly showing agitation.

"Are you going to pick up my cousin? Aunt Molly said she asked you too," Jake asked, changing the subject.

"I'm on my way now. I hope your aunt appreciates this; I'm riding the _freshmen_ bus for her."

"We love and appreciate you for the sacrifice you're making," he retorted dryly.

"When are you gonna be coming back anyway?" she asked as she spotted the bus stop.

"Awwww, does little Fi miss me?"

"Just your chocolate chip pancakes."

"Oh, hey, I forgot to tell you, Kitty said Kurt snuck some kind of gag into your bag before you left... but she wasn't sure what."

Sitting down on a wooden bench Fiona smiled. "Yeah, I found it after my shower this morning, that's why I called."

"What did he do?" Jake asked curiously.

"He messed with my shampoo; made my hair blue. Dark blue. And apparently it's a permanent dye," she replied with a chuckle.

Jake took the phone away from his ear and stared at it for a second before shaking his head sleepily and returning it, confused by her mirth. "Why are you laughing? And why did you call me - I swear I didn't know about it!" he added hastily.

"I'm laughing because the joke's on Kurt; the blue is so dark that it's close to my natural black. It actually looks good. Secondly, by playing a trick on me he broke our truce, which is why I'm calling you."

"I'm not following you, Fi."

"Remember two weeks ago when someone put a pretty large amount of Viagra into your breakfast?" she asked slyly.

"Yes," came his mumbled reply.

Obviously Jake is still embarrassed over that incident. Understandable really, _it _had managed to last eight hours. Jake was locked out of his room, lost his car keys, and even more 'mysteriously', every bathroom in the X-Mansion (where they'd stayed for the summer) had been locked up tight. The result was nowhere for Jake to hide (or take care of) his little problem. In the end he was forced to go to Hank (a doctor that lived at the mansion) for help when he started to get a fever. Turns out he had been overdosed.

Fiona wasn't sure what all was done to fix him, only that he'd been vomiting for the rest of the night.

"Well, Kurt was the one who did it."

Silence is all that came from the other end of the line. Fiona smiled evilly.

"I gotta get off here Fi... I need to have a chat with the elf," Jake finally gritted out. He didn't even wait for her reply as he hung up.

Laughing giddily, Fiona got up from the bench and headed down the road, into a small neighborhood. On the way her mind wandered into memories of last year.

Her freshman year had gone slightly better after that first day at Sky High. Speed and Lash continued to be nice to her, although because she's a sidekick they couldn't always hang out with her. Not just because of being in different classes, but because they still had a reputation to maintain. They're heroes, she's a sidekick; the two groups just don't mesh well.

But once in a while the boys defied that rule to walk with her in the halls, sit with her at lunch, and even hang out after school or on weekends together. The three became surprisingly good friends. The only uncomfortable incident was a particular conversation with Speed.

It was just before the Valentines Day dance when he approached her. Without Lash. Now that had sent her for a small loop, because those two are practically attached at the hip. Offering her a chocolate candy bar, he led her outside to the front lawn of the school. It was in between classes so the courtyard was pretty full, but they managed to find an empty spot beneath a large tree.

_**FLASHBACK ~**_

_"So Fi, how's everything going?" asked Speed, moving to sit down next to her under the tree. _

_Leaning back comfortably, she took a bite of her candy before answering. "Medulla's been giving me crap over my last report, but other than that I'm good. You?" she asked, offering him a piece of chocolate. _

_Waving off her offer, he shifted nervously before speaking again. "Good, good... but I need to talk with you. See, well... the thing is... sometimes friendship can develop into stronger feelings... but, um, sometimes one can be unsure as to how others might take it-" _

_"Ohhh, I think I know what you're talking about," Fiona said, interrupting his stuttered speech. _

_"You do?" he asked, sounding slightly out of breath, eyes looking hopeful._

_She nodded. "Yeah, I've had a feeling this was coming for a while now, and I don't think you have anything to worry about. As a matter of fact I'm pretty sure this 'friend' feels the same way," she replied, happily taking another bite of her candy. _

_Speed's face instantly lit up. "Really?"_

_"Really," she assured with a smile. _

_"So then," he said scooting closer to her, "you'll go to the dance with me?"_

_Eyes going wide, Fiona almost choked on her candy. "What?" _

_"You said you felt the same," he said in confusion, scooting back and eying her warily. _

_"I thought you were talking about you and Lash!" she squeaked out in surprise. He shot to his feet in shock. "What the hell gave you that idea?" he cried in offense._

_"Well," she stammered, "you're always together, you finish each others sentences, you share meals sometimes... and I saw you hug each other that one time at the movies."_

_"He's like my brother! And it was a touching movie!" he defended angrily. _

_"Hey guys, what's up?" Lash asked, appearing out of nowhere and munching on an apple. _

_Both Fiona and Speed looked at each other for second, silently agreeing that this whole thing hadn't happened. _

_"Nothing buddy, take a seat," Speed said coolly._

_**END FLASHBACK ~**_

Things had been awkward after that for a while, but they eventually got over it. Everything turned out fine in the end; she agreed to go with both Lash and Speed to the dance. They even color coordinated their outfits; black and white striped suits for the guys, and a black and white spiral design dress for her.

Fiona couldn't remember ever having more fun then when both boys pretended to fight over her for a slow dance. It ended up with her in between them as they shuffled around the floor (purposely bumping into people) to Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On'. The guys jokingly sung along, which ended up fueling her suspicion about them... they knew every single word. Come on, something just wasn't right with that.

The only thing that topped all that was when Speed convinced Mr. Boy and Medulla to do the Macarena with him. After that everything else passed in a blur and before she knew it, it was summer.

Summer was slightly more hectic. She, along with Jake, Simon, her mother and the rest of the Order spent their time trying to find out who Cael and Zephon was. It was around mid-summer when the attacks started. Turns out that Cael and his brother aren't the only ones of their kind. A few slayers made it out of an attack alive and was able to inform the Order what the new vampires were searching for; it was the same thing they asked Fi about.

Dracula's remains.

After learning this they began moving his body each time an attack happened, not wanting to chance that someone knew and spilled the information. They didn't know what these new vampires wanted his body for, but they knew it couldn't be good. Common sense was able to tell them that much.

It was after the fifth attack that Mary (Fiona's mom, and the head of the Order) was contacted by Charles Xavier, the leader of a mutant team called the X-Men. He also housed young mutants who either had a severe lack of control of their powers, or had nowhere else to go. He'd heard about the attacks and offered his services. Fiona, along with Simon and Jake, went to the his home (which was nicknamed the X-Mansion) to see what help could be offered.

Xavier explained to them that a machine he has, called Cerebro, might be able to search out these new vampires. He went into a really long technical explanation that Fiona hadn't understood. But the gist was that it gives him the ability to search out specific people, and if he studied Fi's natural aura, and memory of these vampires for while, he might be able to find them.

Fiona, doing her best to block out Dracula, had reluctantly agreed.

Fiona and Xavier sat alone in his office for ten minutes before her control slipped. Trying to hide another psyche inside of you from a powerful telepath was impossible to do. Xavier, oddly enough, wasn't surprised.

"I met you when you were very young Fiona, and even then I could feel faint traces of him. But now I see he is much stronger," Xavier said to her in concern.

She proceeded to tell him Dracula meant her no harm, and even if he ever did, he could never take control of her. She was very good at controlling their connection. Xavier had stared at her thoughtfully for moment before nodding slightly.

"I believe you're right; I can feel no malice towards you from him. But I'm assuming that he's not very forthcoming with information about this new threat, or else you wouldn't be here."

"No," she'd replied, "he won't tell me anything about them. He just keeps telling me to make sure they don't find him."

"Interesting," he murmured, speaking more to himself than to her.

And that had been the extent of it. They spent the rest of the summer at the mansion trying to locate the vampires with Cerebro, but nothing ever came up. Whoever, or whatever, these things are, they're very powerful. The only real bright side to the trip was meeting the X-Men and all the other kids at the mansion.

They met Kurt, a furry blue teenage boy with pointy ears (which earned him the nickname, elfboy) and tail. Aside from his appearance however, his mutation also gave him the ability to teleport. He also goes by the codename Nightcrawler.

They met a girl named Kitty next, she's a mix between mallrat and computer geek who has the power to phase through things. Codename Shadowcat.

After Kitty came Rogue. Just Rogue, no last name or proper first name. She's a young goth with the power to drain the life force of anyone she touched. The poor girl is incapable of human touch because she lacks control over her power.

Then there was Scott and Jean... those two are so goody goody that it gives Fi a headache just to think about them. So she wouldn't. There was also Jubilee, who just plain scared Fiona with her valley girl nature... so she wouldn't think about her either.

Moving on, there was the adults at the mansion; the actual X-Men. Ororo (codename Storm), Hank (codename Beast), Remy (codename Gambit), Sydney (codename Morph), Warren (codename Angel), Bobby (codename Iceman), and Piotr (codename Colossus).

And last, but certainly not least, is Logan, aka Wolverine.

Fiona and Logan had gotten along rather well; he even began teaching her how to handle her more 'beastly' nature. Because unlike her, his 'inner beast' is dominate all the time, not just after sundown.

The man isn't very big on words, however, causing Fiona to learn a whole new language; Grunt Speak. It took a while but she eventually got it.

He's rather moody too (which put her in mind of a certain hothead she knew) but for the most part they got along. The only time he ever really got irritated with her was when she found out he was from Canada. Ever since then she'd been trying to get him to say 'aboot' or 'eh'. It was no use though, all he did was growl at her and walk away.

Her second week there, Xavier decided to try and help her become immune to silver, using the theory of mind over matter.

After all, Dracula's reason for hating it is what caused it to harm him and his children. Just like crosses. However, because of her faith, a cross wouldn't burn Fiona.

She was surprised that she (and her family) had never thought of that. So after a few trial and errors she was able to handle silver. Well, mostly; she had to be concentrating, but it was still possible. It was so simple that it was ridiculous.

It's just too bad that this theory couldn't be used for her other vampiric traits. Not that she hadn't tried, but no dice. No matter what she did, she needed to drink blood to survive.

Pulling herself from her thoughts she rounded another corner in search of Molly's house.

* * *

"I just feel really good about this year," said fourteen year old Layla Green to her best friend as they walked down the street toward the bus stop.

"Yeah. It should be great," replied Will Stronghold.

"I wonder what happened to Fiona," Layla wondered aloud.

Will looked over at the redhead. "Helsing right?"

Layla promptly reached up a slapped the back of his head lightly. "Shh! She goes by Sheppard - no one can know she's a Hel... well, you know."

Will rubbed his head, pouting slightly. "Sorry, I forgot."

"Layla!" a voice yelled out behind them when they reached the corner bus stop.

The two friends turned to see an older looking girl wearing hip hugging black crushed velvet pants with the legs tucked into solid black mid-calf boots that had sky blue laces. She also wore a studded belt with a chain full of silver crosses hanging off it, hanging down to her right knee; a light blue jersey tunic tank top; chest length wavy hair that looked to be a dark blue, almost black color. And lastly, completely breaking the color scheme, a dark green backpack slung over her left shoulder.

"Hey Fi," Layla greeted with baffled smile. She's only met Fiona a few times, but this was the first time she ever saw her dressed like a goth. Normally the older girl wore more simple, light colored clothing. But hey, if she wanted to get a makeover, more power to her. It looked nice on her... in a weird Halloweenish kind of way.

"Sorry I took so long, I couldn't find you're place. I figured I'd just come back and wait here," Fiona replied, smiling back at Jake's cousin.

"Oh, no problem. This is my friend Will," Layla introduced.

"Hey," Fiona said to him. Will smiled and nodded to her, "Hey."

Any further conversation was cut off as the bus pulled up. The doors opened to reveal Ron smiling brightly at them. Will climbed in first, followed by Layla and then Fi.

"Morning!" Ron beamed.

"Morning!'" Layla replied happily.

"Is this the bus to Sky High?" Will asked. Fiona hid a grin as Ron popped up and clamped his hand over the Will's mouth.

"Shh! What are you, crazy? Do you want every super villain in the neighborhood to know we're here?"

"No, no. Sorry," Will quickly apologized.

"What's your name, freshman?"

"Um, Will Stronghold."

Ron swallowed thickly before his face lit up. "The son of the Commander and Jetstream?"

Will nodded.

"Everyone! It's Will Stronghold! Son of the Commander and Jetstream!" Ron announced to everyone else, as if they couldn't hear the conversation. Fiona rolled her eyes.

"I'm Ron Wilson, Sky High bus driver. If I can make your journey more comfortable, let me know. You two! Up! The seat behind Ron Wilson belongs to Will Stronghold."

"It would be an honor," declared a nerdy looking boy with glasses, quickly moving to get up.

"It's fine. You don't have to," Will said hastily, fighting a blush at all the attention.

"No, I want to. You're third generation, man," the boy replied. "Magenta, get up," he added to a punkish looking girl with purple streaked hair.

"Why? He only needs one seat," she said in a bored tone.

"So he can sit with his girlfriend."

"Layla? No, she's just my friend," Will corrected.

"Yeah, totally. He's like my brother," Layla chimed in. Despite her words, though, Fiona could feel the depression that Wills statement caused the girl.

"Oh, well, in that case, hi. I'm Larry," said another boy with curly hair, standing up real close behind Layla. At Layla's look of discomfort Fiona decided to step in.

"Okay, back off curly. Will, Layla, go find another seat...and you, uh..." she trailed off looking at the boy with glasses.

"Ethan," he supplied helpfully.

"Ethan, you sit back were you was. Ron, if you don't hurry we're gonna be late."

Ron blinked at her, apparently just realizing she was here. After a second of staring he frowned when he finally recognized her. "Shouldn't you be on the sophomore bus?"

"Yep," she chirped and moved to sit in the back.

* * *

Fiona laughed when the bus landed at Sky High and all the kids jumped from their seats, ready to get off.

"Ah, memories," she said, sharing a smirk with Ron as she passed him to get off the bus. Being the last one off she was only able to catch the tail end of Lash and Speed's welcome speech.

Walking up to the boys after Gwen finally shooed them away, she laughed. "Does that ever work?"

Both boys turned to look at her, and then did a double take. "Looks like our little Fi's gone gothic punk," Lash said, eying her up and down.

"Only for today. I had a bit of an accident with some hair dye. When I couldn't get it out I decided it'd be fun to dress around the color," she replied with a grin.

Plus, being a vampire, she felt it her duty to at least try out this style once; it seemed so popular with the rest of her kind.

Speed grinned too. "I kind of like it, maybe we'll nickname you Blue."

Fiona gave him a mock pout. "No chance of getting you guys to call me Master?"

"No," they both replied firmly. Moving towards her and throwing their arms around her shoulders in a synchronized movement, they steered her into the school.

"Sapphyre," Lash stated suddenly. The other two turned their heads towards him with raised eyebrows, none of them breaking their stride.

"Sapphire?" Speed asked.

"That's what we'll call her; Sap_phyre. _Get it? Cause she's a pyro?"

Speed went silent for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, I think that'll work," he agreed.

Fiona was about to object but Speed cut her off, handing her a piece of paper. "By the way, here's your schedule and locker info," he said.

"And how did you get this?"

"Do you really want to know?" countered Lash. "Besides, look at it this way, we saved you a trip to the office."

Rolling her eyes she gave a sarcastic 'thank you' and took the offered schedule, shrugging their arms off her to gain better movement.

"No problem," they answered at the same time, ignoring her sarcasm and letting their arms falls to their sides.

"Why were you riding the freshmen bus anyway?" Lash asked as they turned a corner with Fiona still between them.

"Jakes aunt Molly asked me to ride with her daughter -it's her first year- and keep an eye on her. Layla's her only child, so she's protective," she answered absently, searching for her locker in the crowded hall.

Spotting her locker, Fiona froze in her tracks.

"So does that mean no swirlies for her?" asked Lash innocently.

Silence.

Both boy's turned to see Fiona standing a few steps back, mouth hanging open. Following her line of vision they saw Warren Peace stuffing things into his locker.

"Just take quick strides Fi, we'll protect you until you pass," Speed said, mirth lacing his voice.

"It's not that... he's my new locker neighbor," she informed them, still not moving.

_'And here was me thinking this year would start off better than the last,' _she thought in dismay.

_'If you do not cease to stop quaking in front of this boy I'll be forced to intervene,'_ warned a familiar voice.

_'Oh please, what will you do? Talk me to death?'_ she retorted to Dracula, giving a mental snort.

He then proceeded to do the most horrifying thing possible. He hummed. Not that his voice was bad - it was actually quite nice. No, what was terrifying about this was the _song_ he was humming. It was the Barney song.

_'Oh __**hell**__ no!'_ she mentally declared. Straightening her back and lifting her chin, Fiona moved forward towards her new locker. There was absolutely no way she was going to listen to that all day. She'd rather get fried... which she probably would.

It was only when she got to her locker that she realized Speed and Lash ditched her.

"Jerks," she muttered as she opened her new locker and quickly put in some books.

"What'd you call me?" Warren growled, whipping around to face her. Fiona jumped and looked at him wide-eyed; this boy has serious issues.

"I wasn't talking about you," she defended. "I was talking about the Bobsy Twins."

It was hard to tell with all that hair hanging in his face, but she was pretty sure he raised an eyebrow. "Lash and Speed?"

"Who else?" she countered.

"What'd they do?" he asked, seemingly interested. All traces of growling gone.

Closing her locker she answered without thinking. "They left me alone to face you."

Realizing what she did, she silently cursed herself and moved a step back. "That's not what I meant-" she started, only to be cut off.

"Yeah it is," he grunted, shutting his locker. "I thought we've been over this; I can't hurt you."

"Maybe not permanently, but contrary to whatever you believe; fire _does_ burn. And it hurts like hell."

"Then fight back."

"I thought we've been over _this,_" she retorted, using his words. "You won't like it if I really fight back. Unless you're into becoming an undead lackey."

With that she quickly turned on her heel and walked away, leaving him there to ponder what she meant. She could feel his heated gaze on her back all the way down the hall.

_'Now was that so bad?' _Dracula asked her when she made it to her homeroom.

'_I hate you and everything you stand for,' _she replied dully, sitting down in the first desk she reached.

_'There's no need to sulk.'_

_'You're not the one who was punked into doing something by the __**Barney**__ song.'_

_'I'll make it up to you.' _

_'How?'_

_'I could teach you how to do that traveling fog trick, as you call it, of mine.' _

Fiona perked up._ 'Really?'_

_'No,' _he said, amusement flooding off of him.

_'Jerk.'_


	5. Chapter 4: Stop the World, I Want Off

**Disclaimer:  
Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

**_Chapter Four:_ Stop the World, I Want Off **

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

Fiona was going to kill Jake, or at least severely injure him. How could he not warn her about his cousin? Layla comes across so sweet and loving, but underneath all that is a very manipulative and clingy person. She's like a little black hole of need.

Fiona's first day back to school was plagued by the redhead. It started when she'd been sitting at her usual table at lunch, all alone (being seen with Lash and Speed most of the time tended to make others wary of her), nibbling at her pudding peacefully. Then suddenly she had been surrounded by Layla and her friends. They have been attached to her ever since.

The only bright side was when Will sat down with them. Warren, sitting at his usual table across from her, had taken to glaring at Will. It was a nice change in Fi's opinion, because he usually spent the time he wasn't reading or eating to stare at her. After their Save the Citizen fight last year he'd never laid another hand (or fireball) on her. Though he did like to just sit and glare. He was like a silent bully.

At the moment Fiona somehow found herself sitting in Strongholds front room studying with Layla, Will, Zach, Ethan and Magenta. Exactly how it happened, she wasn't sure. They aren't even in the same year as her. Zach was trying to use that to his advantage, though.

"Yo Fi, Medulla wants us to write a report on what to do if a villain captures our hero and is wielding a heat-ray; what do I put down?"

Looking up from her own book (Villainous History II) she paused in thought for second. "Well, the answer he really wants is that you'll get in contact with another hero with access to a freeze-ray and get them there as fast as you can."

"Don't be giving him answers!" Layla scolded.

"But what did you put?" Zach asked, ignoring the redhead.

"Well, I said that if I couldn't get past his heat ray with my own pyro capabilities then I'd find a freeze-ray and break my hero out by myself instead of waiting... naturally Medulla didn't like that. The only thing that kept me from getting an 'F' was the fact that I'd included a freeze-ray in my answer. He's obsessed with ray guns."

The teachers at that school are so prejudice when it came to the whole sidekick versus hero thing. They seriously believed no sidekick could accomplish anything on their own. If Fiona had actually planned on going into the superhero lifestyle after high school then she might make a big deal out of it (like Layla). But no, she had the whole demon hunter secret night-life thing awaiting her, so it really wasn't her problem. Fighting humans, even if they're evil mutants, is not something she plans on taking part in. The only reason she went to Sky High was to learn how to control her own mutant power - which she hadn't yet, by the way.

"Okay, enough cheating Zach! Let's get to work on Mr. Boy's assignment," Layla said. "A radioactive zombie is charging at your hero. Do you hand him: A) his silver-tipped crossbow; B) a wooden spike; C)..."

"Yo, that's so weak, man. I'm holding his crossbow. Why can't I shoot him myself?" Zach interrupted.

"'Cause we're hero support," Magenta supplied.

"And if your hero asks for a crossbow, you hand it to him," Ethan added.

Layla frowned. "Or her."

"By the way, Zach, you can't kill a zombie. You can only re-kill him," Will chimed in.

"Or her," Magenta corrected this time.

"If you kids are all in here, who's out there saving the world?"

The whole group looked up to see the Commander in the entryway.

"Dad. Why are you home so early?" Will asked, looking a little embarrassed. Not that Fi could blame him; did the Commander really need to strike a pose in his own house? Are there reporters hiding behind the couch with camera's that they hadn't noticed yet or something? Come on, the window shades are even closed.

"After I stopped the Superdome from collapsing, I was watching the game and got to thinking: '_It's been a while since Will and I tossed the old pigskin around.' - _ I thought I'd hustle back home, but I see you and Layla have already made new friends," Mr. Stronghold said. Still posing.

"It's an honor to meet you, sir," Ethan stuttered, standing up to shake his hand.

"What's your name, your power?" he asked shaking the trembling boy's hand.

"I'm Ethan, and I melt."

"...Ok."

"Zach. I glow," the blond said, also standing up to shake the Commanders hand.

"...I see."

"Magenta. I shape-shift," she stated, not bothering to get up.

"Shape-shift!" Wills dad said, finally sounding impressed.

"Into a guinea pig."

Well, that wiped the impressed look off his face. Fiona smirked, deciding to keep it that way. "Fiona. Still waiting for my powers," she lied, following Magenta's example by not getting up. The other kids looked at her, but didn't say anything to correct her statement.

Mr. Stronghold stammered a few "Greats!" to them before offering everyone a tuna sandwich, which they declined, and then disappeared into the kitchen. Will followed soon after.

Everyone left in the front room listened as Will broke it to his dad that he didn't have any powers. Everyone tried to look like they hadn't heard anything when Will came back into the room.

"Uh, so I, uh, think we pretty much covered the undead," Layla said, as everyone turned back to their books.

"What's next?" Will asked, giving the girl a small smile. Fiona hid a grin when she heard Layla's heart speed up at the action.

Drowning them out Fiona turned back to her book.

* * *

Fiona felt comfortable. Very, very comfortable. Snuggling deeper into the satin sheets she rolled over, sighing happily. Wait a minute... satin sheets?

Eyes snapping open, Fiona gasped in surprise. She was laying in a bed that definitely did not belong to her. But, oddly enough, that's not what had her worried. It was the fact that the bed was sitting in the middle of a desert.

"Well, this is new," she commented to herself lightly. Sitting up slowly, she looked around, pausing at the sight that greeted her at the foot of the canopy.

"Whoa," is all she could say. Standing there, clad in nothing but black silk pajama bottoms was a man. A very tall, well built, gorgeous man.

The man smiled, revealing perfectly straight white teeth. "Speechless? Now _that_ is new," he said in a very familiar accented voice.

Eyes widening in recognition, she sat up straighter. "What's going on?"

Dracula continued to smile smugly at her. "I felt like a change of pace," he replied, moving to crawl into the bed with her.

Quickly jumping out of bed, she noticed that she was only wearing a long black silk buttoned up shirt. She grimaced as she realized it was the matching top to his pants. Thankfully it was long enough to reach her knees.

"Well I don't. Wake me up," Fi demanded.

"Wake yourself up," he countered, leaning back against the head board. He watched in amusement as she proceeded to try and do just that. A minute ticked by in which she continued to squeeze her eyes shut, only to open them again and frown in disappointment.

Fiona stomped, cussed, and paced in her agitation. Though, he noticed, she never once came close to the bed.

"There is nothing to fear; I promise not to bite," he said, smirking as he realized her reason. She finally returned her eyes to him, giving him an unreadable expression.

"Mom told me about these dream things... I didn't think you were still able to do this," she said.

"I grow stronger everyday," he replied smoothly, ignoring the unsettling feeling her gaze was giving him. The girl had always been able to feel his lies easily.

Fiona cocked her head to the side, "You're lying... somethings different," she stated.

"I have never lied to you."

"Yes you have."

Heaving a heavy sigh, he climbed out of bed. "Not when it matters."

Walking to stand in front of him, she shook her head slightly. "No. Your strength is no different then it's ever been; I can feel it."

"I do not wish to speak of this-"

"No real choice there Jude, old buddy," she snapped, cutting him off.

_"Do not _call me that," he growled, grabbing her shoulders roughly. She knew she shouldn't do it, but she did anyway. "Oh, right, I forgot; it's Jud_as,_" she replied casually.

Next thing she knew, Fiona was flying through the air. Landing a few feet away with a small 'oof!' she jumped back to her feet and charged at him. Reaching him she threw a punch, which he caught easily. Not letting that detour her, she kicked him in the shin.

Seizing her by the throat he tossed her on the bed. "You're trying to provoke me," he accused in a bored tone.

"I finally get to meet you face to face; I need to get a few things off my chest," she fumed, moving back to stand in front of him.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Such as?"

Fiona threw another punch, and this time he allowed it. "That's for making my gramps into an obsessed old man! (_punch_) Then killing him! (_punch_) That's for giving mom nightmares for half her life! (_punch_) For Lucy, who I'm told was a very cool person! (_punch_) For claiming my mother!"

Each accusation was proceeded by a punch to his face, which he allowed her to do. He simply stood there and let her vent. Though, what she did next surprised him. Standing up on her tiptoes, she kissed his cheek. "That's for releasing her," she continued sweetly.

Fiona was never _sweet -_ at least not to him_. _He stared at her completely caught off guard. Which was exactly what she was going for. Smiling brightly, she moved back a little; lifted her right leg; bent it; swung it back and then forward, fiercely slamming into his groin.

"And that's for screwing me over!" she yelled at him as he fell to his knee's. Her moment was short lived, however, as he suddenly reached out and grabbed her ankle, pulling her feet out from under her.

"Enough! I've done nothing wrong by you," he growled at her, panting slightly in pain, as she landed flat on her back in front of his kneeling form.

"You've ruined my life!" she said through clinched teeth, glaring up at him.

"I would never, and have never, done anything to harm you."

"If it wasn't for you, I would be normal - or at least as normal as a mutant can get. You could have released me at any time in my life. You wanna stand there and say you're the good guy? Then release me."

"I cannot."

"Despite what you think, you won't turn me_. _I don't know what you're holding on for, you can't even use your thrall on me," she taunted up at him.

Big mistake.

The second after she said that, he pounced. Straddling her hips, he quickly pinned both her arms beside her head. Leaning down he placed a small kiss on her neck. Despite Fiona's claims, she found herself wanting him to continue, her thoughts going hazy. She tilted her head obediently, giving him better access. He growled softly and nipped at her neck, then soothed the bite with his tongue. Moaning softly, she arched her back, trying to get closer to him.

The act was useless however, as Fiona suddenly found herself alone. Eyes popping open she looked up to find him now on his feet, several paces away from her.

"Despite what _you_ think; I can. But I wouldn't use any such means to sway you - I would have you willing," was all he said, head bowed slightly, his eyes unreadable.

Realizing what just happened, Fiona stood up quickly, shaking the fog from her mind and fighting a blush. "You say that like you care."

Meeting her eyes he replied simply, "I do."

"If you really did, then you'd let me go," she replied, tone slightly pleading.

"I cannot."

Grunting in irritation she turned and started to walk away. Not that there was anywhere to go, this was some weird dream world, after all.

She was maybe ten feet away when she heard him sigh before calling out, "I cannot release you, because I have never claimed you. "

Turning slowly, she looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"You heard me."

"But... then how? Did the x-gene?..."

"The x-gene is a natural part of human evolution... my blood would not be affected by such means."

"A spell?" she tried.

"What I am, is a curse from the highest power. No magic from any on this earth can touch it."

Fiona shook her head in disbelief. "But that... that means..."

Dracula nodded. "That means, my dear, that _He_ did it."

* * *

All morning she'd just been going through the motions; wake up; get dressed; eat; catch the bus; go to class. Fiona hadn't even heard a word any of her teachers said. Mr. Boy was sympathetic, noticing that something was wrong, but Medulla chewed her out in front of the whole class. Though, she barely noticed that too. Fiona's mind had been somewhere else all day.

All her life she'd been this freaky, one of a kind, _creature_ - but she'd always been able to deal with that. It was easy. Just blame Dracula.

But now she couldn't.

Her mother raised her to be a strong believer in God, and to trust his ways... but Fiona found herself unsure what to think now. He cursed her for absolutely no reason. At least none that she could see.

None of this made any sense, especially how Dracula was able to take over her dream last night. He'd never done that before, and despite what he said, he is definitely not stronger. Something had happened, or was still happening. She wasn't sure, and there was no one to ask. Ever since she'd woken up she'd been blocking him. Which was easy because he wasn't fighting her, for once.

"Hey Fi!" a chirpy voice... well, chirped, from behind her. Fighting back a groan she turned to see Layla headed towards her.

"Hi Red."

"Hey! Headed to lunch? Me too. Lets go grab a table," the other girl said, not giving Fiona a chance to reply. Layla grabbed Fi's hand and dragged her into the cafeteria.

Sitting down at Fiona's usual table, the two were soon surrounded by the rest of the 'gang', except for Will.

Fiona blocked them all out as they chatted, but was drawn from her thought's when Layla suddenly shouted out to Will. "Over here! Saved you a seat!"

Will was halfway there when he suddenly went flying. "Whoa!" he cried, falling flat on his face, food landing on... oh crap.

Everyone watched in horror as Warren slowly stood up and turned to face Will.

"Uh, sorry," the younger boy stuttered.

"You will be," Warren growled moving towards him.

"Let's not do this," Will pleaded as the larger boy grabbed his shirt.

"You think you can do whatever you want 'cause your name's Stronghold?"

Will then proceeded to say the stupidest thing ever. "I'm sorry my dad put your dad in jail, but-"

"Nobody talks about my father," Warren hissed, flaming up. Will screamed and scrambled backwards.

"Oh, it is so on!" Fiona heard someone say excitedly. Turning her head she spotted Lash and Speed standing to the side, grinning like two kids in a candy store. A chant of 'Fight, fight, fight!' soon started.

"Mr. Boy, do something!" Layla cried to the teacher who had just been standing there, drinking a slurpy. As he ran for help everyone else moved into a large circle around the two boys.

Fiona frowned; this is escalating quickly. Yes, she expected Warren to fry Will, but not this badly. She can feel all the emotions her fellow pyro is giving off - and he's currently giving off way too much. This is definitely not normal. It's almost like he has no control. Something felt way off; Fiona's own spidey senses began to tingle, alerting her that something was definitely wrong here.

Will was currently hiding under a table with Warren on top of it taunting him. "Where are your sidekicks, sidekick?"

"Right here!" Zach cried out bravely as he and the gang moved into view, Fiona included (Layla had a firm grip on her hand).

"Yeah," Ethan said, also trying to sound brave, but instantly melted (literally) from fright when Warren ignited his whole upper body. Fiona snorted at her 'fallen' friend before meeting Warrens gaze; it was trained solely on her, a challenge clearly shining in his eyes. Fiona growled; she was _**so**_ not in the mood to play the weakling today. Going against everything she'd been taught, Fiona ripped her hand from Layla's grasp and charged at him. His eyes widened when she landed in front of him on the table and grabbed his flaming arms, without even flinching.

She was about to throw him across the room, when suddenly, Will grew a backbone.

"Leave them alone!" he yelled, standing straight up with the table over his head. In the midst of her shock, and trying to steady herself from falling, she felt a small bit of pride for Will. Of course that was short lived as he sent the table flying with them still on it. Apparently he hadn't seen her jump up too.

"Yeah, Will!" everyone shouted in praise, completely forgetting about Fiona who was now laying in the rubble of a broken table... underneath Warren.

"Knew you'd snap someday," he said, panting heavily above her, his hair hanging down and framing her face, hiding them both from the view of others. Not that anyone was paying attention though.

Groaning from the impact she slowly moved her face towards his. Now facing him she noticed his eyes staring at her mouth. Warren shifted slightly, resting most of his weight on his elbows beside her shoulders. Though she hated to admit it (and never would out loud) the feeling of his body crushing hers to ground felt good. Really good. More so then when Dracula did it... of course this time she was actually coherent. Maybe that was the only difference; lack of thrall magic to cloud her mind. She licked her lips and tried to fight back a groan, hoping he hadn't heard. Which was useless.

Hearing her clearly, Warren responded by pressing his left knee firmly between her legs. This time Fiona didn't try (not that she could have) to hide her moan while her right leg moved (without asking her permission - traitorous body!) to wrap around his hip; pulling him closer.

His eyes lifted to hers and she gasped at the sight. They were so dark, and the emotion in them was so primal. They looked almost inhuman.

"But this," he added in a husky whisper, his lips hovering inches from hers, "_this _is a surprise."

It was then that he reached up to her lips and lightly touched her fangs. Wait a tick... fangs? Fi's eyes widened as she realized that she'd let them extend earlier in her anger. Pulling her head back sharply she pushed him off her. Appearing unfazed he stood up and stalked out of the rubble. Seems no one noticed their small interaction. She isn't sure how they all missed it, but was thankful for it. It's not like she _liked_ him or anything. Really. He's just sexy; what female wouldn't have reacted the same way she had?

"Stronghold!" he yelled running towards Will, who was currently standing across the room staring up at Lash hanging from the ceiling. Seconds later Warren went crashing through a wall. A concrete wall. Everyone yelled out happily for Will, except for Fi who watched with amazement as Warren popped back into the room.

"Think I can't take a hit?"

Fiona's eyebrows raised; looks like she isn't the only one full of surprises. There's only one way for Warren to walk away from a hit like that and be okay; he's a regenerator too. Or an Indestructible, as they're more commonly called.

_'Technically,'_ she thought slyly, _'that makes him fair game.'_

With this new knowledge she was about to happily jump back into the fight when Speed appeared out of nowhere. "You okay Fi?" he asked, reaching down and pulling her up easily.

"I'm good," she said trying move around him.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked holding onto her arms, preventing her from leaving.

"To kick Warrens ass?"

"Well... that's a change," he said, looking at her with confusion. "He didn't hurt you did he?" he added suddenly, eyes darkening.

"No, no. Nothing I can't handle," she insisted, still trying to move around him. She was too late though, Principle Powers had finally made her way there and was escorting Will and Warren to detention.

"Damn."

* * *

"What do you mean he saw your_**fangs?**_"

Fiona yanked her phone away from her ear. "OW! Jake! Sensitive hearing, remember?" she scolded, switching the cell to her other ear.

"How did you manage this? I mean seriously, I leave you alone for two days!"

"I didn't mean too... it's just been a stressful day, and he pissed me off. Besides, I think he might have really killed Will if he got the chance."

Jake sighed. "Dammit Fi... okay, I'm sure we can play this off as a mutation."

"That's my plan. He and Will were in detention for the rest of the day so I couldn't talk with him at school. I know where he works, though, so I'm on my way there."

"Fiona, you can't just pop in to his place of work-"

"Trust me it's fine, the place is always pretty empty. If it's not, I'll just wait until he gets off."

"Yeah, that won't seem stalkerish," Jake commented sarcastically.

Fiona walked around the corner, spotting the Paper Lantern. "Listen Jay, it's either this, or talk to him at school where anyone can hear. Do you know how many kids have super hearing at that place?"

"Fine, just try and be polite."

"Ain't I always?"

"I'm serious Fi. Just because he's a regenerator too, doesn't mean you get pummel him."

Leaning against the brick wall of an abandoned building across the street from the little restaurant, she looked inside the windows, counting how many customers were there. "Why not?" she questioned absently.

"Because he's still human," came Jakes firm reply.

Fiona smirked. "You got proof of that?"

"I'm not jok-"

"Gotta go Jay," she replied, cutting him off and flipping her cell closed. She was about to go inside when she caught a vaguely familiar scent on the wind. Tensing a little she turned towards an alley to her right. She loosened up some, though, when she heard a heart beat. Scanning the darkness she saw a small form huddled behind a trash can. Walking closer she recognized the scent; Warren. Except there was a difference to this scent, but only slightly.

Now standing over the small form she realized it was a little boy, around seven or eight years old. "Hey there," she said softly, trying not to scare him.

Two large brown eyes peeked up at her behind long curly bangs. "Hi," he replied cautiously.

Fiona moved to kneel in front of him. "What are you doing out here? It's not safe."

"I'm playing hide and seek," he said, seeming to ease up a little.

"With who?"

"My brother."

Fiona decided to take a 'wild' guess. "Is his name Warren?"

"Do you know him?"

"Kinda. My names Fiona, what's yours?"

The boy quickly jumped up to stand in front her, his little eyes widening when he got a closer look at her. "_Master_? He said you had blue hair now, but I thought he was just teasing me."

Fiona blinked in confusion for a minute... then proceeded to burst out laughing in disbelief. He told his little brother about her? About_** that**_? This was weird. She was afraid of what might happen if she mentioned Wills name to the child.

"Does he make it a point to tell his family _everything _about people he doesn't like?" she asked, fighting back the giggles. "Maybe he has a few large pictures of us in his room, with a big bullseye surrounding us?"

The boy gave her an odd look, "No... but he does have this sketch book -"

Fiona interrupted the boy by once again exploding into laughter.

"My names Toby," he said proudly, holding his hand out to her, ignoring her outburst. Fiona took a deep breath to clam down before shaking his small hand. "Nice to meet you, little man. But do you think it's wise to speak so freely to your big bro's enemy?"

"Enemy? He doesn't think you're bad."

Eyes twinkling merrily she stood up from her kneeling position. "What does he say about me?" she asked curiously.

Toby gave a large mischievous smile, complete with two missing front teeth. "That would be tattling," he said.

Fiona grinned back at him; this was one cute kid. Too bad his brother couldn't adopt his attitude. "Hmm, well then I guess I'll never know," she replied with mock sadness.

Extending her hand out him she said, "Let's go inside, it's not safe out here."

"'Course it is, you have powers. We're still playing hide and seek."

"Does your brother even know that you're playing?" she asked, not believing that Warren would let his baby brother go outside at night to hide in the streets.

Toby paused in thought, his little face all scrunched up in the process. He was saved from answering her, though, as there was suddenly a loud bang of a door slamming, followed by someone shouting his name franticly.

Fiona chuckled. "Thought so," she mumbled grabbing Toby's hand and dragging him across the street to his distraught brother.

Warren froze at the sight of her and his little brother for a second, but then quickly regained himself. "What the hell are you doing?" he hissed at her.

He was jumping to conclusions and blaming her? Shocking.

"You know Warren, abandoning a child like this isn't good; Lord only knows what kind of psycho's are out this late."

Warren stomped over to her and grabbed Toby's hand from hers. "Yeah. I have a good idea."

Fiona's eyes narrowed, understanding clearly what he was implying. "Listen up buddy, it's not my fault you weren't watching him. You should be on your knee's thanking me for coming along and finding him before anything else did."

"War, it's okay, she's nice!" Toby cut in, looking up pleadingly at his brother.

"Thanks Curly," she said, smiling at the boy. He grinned back, "No problem Master."

Warren started coughing loudly, eyes bulging comically.

_'Oh, I __**love**__ this kid,' _she thought to herself with a giggle. Warrens gaze snapped to hers at the sound, face now flushed but glare steadily back in place.

Fi just smiled at him, confidence boosted by Toby's presence. "I think we need to talk," was all she said.

"Okay... we close in a hour, though," he said reluctantly as Toby had already grabbed her hand in his free one eagerly.

"No problem, I can wait."

* * *

An hour? Yeah right. She made a mental note to buy the guy a watch. Fiona leaned her head back against the wall behind her booth and closed her eyes. She'd been sitting here for two and a half hours. Not that Warren wasn't true to his word; they did close a while ago, but he had been helping clean up for a long time after. If she didn't know better, she'd say he was doing it purposely.

Toby sat with her for about half an hour (in which time she had contemplated kidnapping him and keeping him for herself - he was that damn adorable) before Warren sent him home. Which is apparently just an apartment above the restaurant.

Fiona opened her eyes when she felt someone sit across from her. "Hello War," she drawled out lazily.

"Sorry," he said gruffly.

"No worries, I'm patient."

He shook his head, "No, I mean for earlier. About Toby... thanks for taking care of him."

Fiona shook her own head in bemusement. "One of these days we're going to have a long talk about your mood swings. But right now I'd like to chat about what happened today at lunch."

"What about it?"

"I don't want anyone to know about my extra mutation," she stated in a calm and polite voice.

Warren smirked and leaned back comfortably in his seat. "I thought you were here to talk about the _other_ thing that happened... or maybe continue. Personally, I'd rather continue with that then talk."

"That _**never **_happened," she said firmly (trying not to blush), her tone clearly leaving no room for an argument. "Now, like I said, I don't want anyone to know about my extra mutation, so please keep it to yourself."

"Now why should I do that?"

"Because I doubt you want anyone to know about _your _extra power."

"I don't have any," he denied smoothly. Fiona smiled brightly; she had hoped he would deny it. Moving faster than any human eye could see, she reached out and dug her sharp nails into the skin of his right hand that was laying on the table. Blood instantly welled up in the deep gashes as he yanked his hand away.

"Are you crazy?" he yelled at her, cradling his injured hand.

"Actually, all things considered, I'm pretty well adjusted," she replied nonchalantly, picking up a napkin to clean the blood off her fingernails.

Fiona paused for moment as the scent of his blood registered in her senses; something was odd about it. If she could taste it she could probably place what it was...

Quickly throwing the now sullied napkin away from her, she turned her attention back to Warren. Reaching out with her enhanced speed again she grabbed his wrist and pulled it to her.

Looking at his now completely healed skin she smirked at him. "You were saying?"

"How did you know?" he asked in confusion.

"Not just anyone can be thrown through a concrete wall and be fine two seconds later. The others were just too preoccupied by Will to notice."

Warren stared at her quietly for a minute then leaned forward, elbows on the table, his gaze steady and intense. "Two mutations is practically impossible, but not if both parents carry the x-gene... you have more than two though, care to explain that?"

"I have only two."

"Now who's lying?"

"I'm not lying."

"You're a pyro; have fangs; bend gravity; enhanced reflexes; super strength; and your eyes tend to glow red when you're mad."

"...The hell?"

"I pay attention to things," he replied with a shrug.

Fiona was completely lost on what to do. "Pay attention? When the hell have you ever seen me _**bend gravity**_, as you call it?" she squeaked out in bafflement.

"Sometime last year during Mad Science class. Medulla had you all outside practicing with some machine, then that green haired kid with glasses set it off accidentally and everyone went flying. You, on the other hand, landed _on_ the wall of the school. Standing horizontally. Your hair didn't even angle towards the ground; it rested normally on your shoulders. Therefore, you bend gravity."

"You're not even in any of my classes."

"I was ditching math and was on my to sit out front to read for a while."

At a loss, she said the first thing that crossed her mind. "Real bad boy you are; ditching class to read."

"No changing the subject," he scolded playfully. What the heck? Now he's playful? Is he some kind of schizo?

"What about the other stuff?" she asked.

"Like I said; I pay attention."

"No. I'm careful. You had to be _looking_ for things," she accused.

Warren eyed her silently for a minute. "I was," he finally admitted.

"Why?"

"I knew from the start you were hiding things - I can't resist a good mystery."

Fi gave a mirthless chuckle. "And what made you think I was hiding things?"

"You're a pyro, but you act timid."

"So?"

"That's impossible. You can't be a fire elemental and be timid; it's not in us. So really, you brought the attention to yourself."

"Only from you... hell, and Jake was worried about _me_ being stalkerish."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Listen, lets just make a deal okay? I won't say anything about your mutations, and you won't say anything about mine."

"Alright, I won't say anything about your mutation," he agreed calmly, then added, "But what about your other powers?"

Ever felt the need to bang your head against a wall? Well, Fi was having one of those moments. "What do you mean?"

"Things point to a different reason for your extra powers."

"Like?"

"Your undead lackey comment."

Fiona's heart froze. There was no way he could possibly...

Warren reached into his pocket and pulled something small out, holding it in his fist so she couldn't see it. Leaning forward he placed whatever it was on her hand. Fiona yelped as whatever it was burned her. Pulling her hand back she glared at him in confusion. Raising an eyebrow at her knowingly he opened his fist to show her a small silver cross.

Okay, yes, Fiona could stand silver now, but only if she was concentrating. What had just happened was something she hadn't expected, so her body's natural reaction took over.

She looked at him with wide eyes. _"_You've got to be kidding me."

"So, what exactly are you? It's not everyday a vampire can walk in the sunlight... or have a pulse," he inquired calmly.

Fiona glanced cautiously around the restaurant, making sure it was empty. "Okay, first of all, keep your voice down. Secondly, ever seen Blade?"

Warren nodded.

"Well, it's kinda like that... but much more complicated," she said.

Silence fell over the two for moment, Warren looking at her expectantly. "That's it?"

"That's all you need to know. Knowledge can be a dangerous thing Warren," she told him seriously, rubbing her head tiredly. "I'm going to go, because I _**really**_ can't handle anymore surprises today. And this... jeez... just, please, forget that you know anything about this. Please," she pleaded. Warren stared at her blankly without answering.

Standing up to leave (before she got desperate and just attacked him) she paused when he caught her hand, a small shiver going through her at the touch. Absently she noted how much larger his hand was then hers.

"I wont say anything," he promised, squeezing her hand gently before letting go.

Shaking her head Fiona left the restaurant, once again baffled by his actions. This guy is a real puzzle. He's silent, broody, violent, playful, sarcastic, irrational, smart, clueless, flirty, caring, cold, and comforting... all in the span of two minutes. There seemed to be a familiar pattern to this, it was all reminding her of something, but she couldn't place what it was.

_'Well,"_ she thought, walking down the empty street, guided by the light of the full moon. _"they do say that there's a fine line between genius and insanity."_

And in Fi's opinion, Warren Peace is definitely walking it.

* * *

Fiona's been home for twenty minutes now, and has been sprawled out on the front room couch the whole time, unable to move. Exhausted didn't even begin to explain how she felt. Today was one of those days that she shouldn't have gotten out of bed for.

First, Dracula was breaking through whatever stood between them and was gaining more control. Which he proved by taking her dream over. Secondly, he dropped a bigger bombshell by informing her that he never claimed her. Apparently, God Himself, had decided to do this to her. Oh yeah, and Warren knows she's a vampire.

The fact that he figured her out made absolutely no sense! Where the hell did he get a pure silver cross from anyway? He just happened to have one laying around in the freaking _**stock room**_?

The longer she thought about it, the more she realized there was definitely more to him then meets the eye. Her timid act around him wasn't all an act like he thought. No, he intimidated her to a certain degree. Not because she was afraid of what she might do to him, but what he might do to her. She has an odd feeling he could do more damage then burn her.

He scared everyone, true, but they're just afraid of him for basic reasons. It's the normal fear one has towards a bully type figure. It's high school, after all, and every one has a resident bad ass. Warren is Sky High's.

There are times when Fi gets certain vibes from him (like today during the fight) but she couldn't place what it was, though. The same way she couldn't put her finger on what had smelled wrong with his blood.

_"This isn't going to end well... mom's gonna kill me." _A few more minutes passed after that thought before she finally fell asleep. Mouth wide open with drool slowly dripping down her chin.


	6. Chapter 5: Lilith, Gambit & Ditching

**Disclaimer:  
Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.**

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**_Chapter Five:_ Lilith, Gambit & Ditching**

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**The Bible first stated:**

"_So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them_" - Genesis 1:27

It was later written:

"_Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man_." - Genesis 2:22

Some believe this to be an indication that Adam had a wife before Eve. They would be correct.

Lilith was the first wife of Adam, and she (like Adam) was created from dust. They were made the same, thus making them equal... or at least they should have been. Adam thought she should assume the subservient role to him in everything, but Lilith refused. After a time she fled the Garden of Eden, ending up by the Red Sea. Which was a place that was home to many demons.

She took many of them as her lovers, giving birth to a new race: Werewolves.

God sent three angels to bring her back to the garden but she refused them. The angels (Sansenoy, Senoy, and Semangelof) threatened to kill one of Lilith's demonic children for every day that she stayed away, she countered by saying she would prey upon the descendants of Adam and Eve.

She wasn't bluffing, and was soon punished for her actions. A curse was placed on her; one that would last forever. She was made into a demon.

In her anger she vowed to _eternally _prey on all Adam and Eves children. However, she soon found that through a bite she could spread her curse to them.

Through her bite and exchange of blood she created another new race: Vampires.

Her children soon found that through _their_ bites, they too, could make humans into one of them. Thus giving Lilith's evil a new way spreading.

Her family slowly grew, and over the centuries spread throughout the world. It wasn't until later on, sometime around Hatchepsut's reign over Egypt, that Lilith disappeared. A demon hunter by the name of Hakan Aurelius, who was surprisingly one of her own descendants (a werewolf), was said to have beaten her in one of their many battles. Unable to actually kill her (she was immortal) he had to settle for trapping her in her weakened state.

It is unknown as to how he did this, or where he placed her. All that is known is that soon after this her kin thinned out. Werewolves are now scarce to find, let alone a full blooded one. Her vampiric children, however, seemed to have vanished along with her.

Till now.

Fiona found herself walking through a small park. A very familiar park... one that should have been thousands of miles away.

"Not again," she muttered in realization.

"I'm afraid so," Dracula said walking into her view. Fully clothed this time in a black shirt and jeans, along with a cool black duster. He was a such a Spike wannabe - minus the hair, of course.

"Thanks for the change of scenery at least... but there will be no touchy-feely this time, right?" she asked warily

"I was merely proving a point, my dear. You've nothing to fear."

Looking around the park where Simon had taken her and Jake with him so many years ago on their first mission, Fiona turned her gaze back to him."What are we doing here?"

"You asked me for the truth, so I've decided to tell you what I can."

"But why are we _here_?"

"Here is where it all started," he stated.

"Not following," she replied in confusion.

"I've been with you since the day you entered this world, but was unable to communicate with you. There was always a wall between us, leaving me stranded silently inside of you. Your mother and I had a similar connection, but not nearly as strong. I was beyond surprised when I realized you were like me, but pure. Why He would choose to let you become a vampire was puzzling," he explained. "Mary's betrayal left a deep wound and I was not willing to become attached again, so I did my best to ignore you. Then, when you were five, you entered the daylight; your screams awoke me. I could not block you out no matter how hard I tried. You almost died that day... I was surprised at how badly that thought shook me. I could still not speak directly to you after that, but I could allow you take small things from me; knowledge of certain things that would help you. We are here now because this is where I first began to understand His plan."

"This is were you first spoke to me... what changed?" she asked, indicating the moonlit park around them.

Dracula shook his head ruefully. "It's all Simon's fault; if he hadn't taken you with him that night... I knew I should have killed him when I had the chance. As soon as I realized you were going to head into the fight yourself, I panicked. There was no way you, being so young, would make it out alive. I felt true fear for someone other than myself for the first time in... well, a very long time. In that moment, the wall between us cracked."

Silence claimed them for a moment, both lost in thought. Fiona then asked slowly, "Why? That doesn't make sense."

"See, His first try was Mary, but we were far too different. Nothing would have bent me to her will. But you, Fiona, are different. You are like me in practically every way, and I love that - which is what He was going for, I'm sure. When I understood that, I tried to distance myself once again. This is why I rarely spoke to you."

Fiona was lost. "What does that have to do with the wall, or whatever it is, that separates us?" she asked.

"With all these new attacks going on I've been forced into a new realization. I can either help them, which might in turn give me what I've always wanted," he answered, as if that explained everything.

Rolling her eyes in irritation, Fiona just decided to play along. He'd get to the point eventually. "And what's that?"

"Through this new threat I could have the ability to take control if they release me, revive me. I could try again to make the world in my image, this time with stronger allies. Though, in doing this, I would be forced to harm you. I know very well that nothing I can say will sway your faith. So, it is either them or you."

It took a minute for Fiona to grasp what he was saying, and when she did she barely contained a gasp of surprise. "That's why He made me like this, to give you a reason to change. He knew you'd want me if I was exactly like you. The more attached you get, the more the wall that separates us breaks. That's like your little reward for caring," she said slowly as the realization of all this processed.

Oh man. She didn't get screwed over; he did. This whole plan was so... so, sneaky... twisted... wrong... and _so_ freaking brilliant. Her faith was officially renewed.

A pained expression crossed his face as he nodded in agreement. "I care for you... and if you will not choose my ways, then I'll _try_ to abide by yours. I do not promise a grand change... but I cannot let them harm you. That much is certain," he said slowly, as if it was a hard thing to admit.

Jerk.

"Wait a minute. They've been attacking off and on for over a year or so now, and you've just _**now **_decided to pick me?"

"Of all that I just said, you only hear that part," he said dully, suppressing an eye roll.

"Oh, I heard it all, but that's beside the point," she huffed.

"Do you not understand what I'm saying?"

"You're turning over a new leaf?"

"Far from it. What I am saying, is that I will finally tell you what it is you are facing."

"Are you sure? I mean this is a big decision; you've agonized over it this long. Maybe you should consider it a while longer," Fiona said sarcastically.

"With an attitude like that, you wonder why it took me so long to choose between you and my _life long dream_. And might I add that it has been a _**very**_ long life."

Fiona sighed. "Fine, fine... you gotta understand, though, that was insulting."

"My apologies," he replied, sarcasm thick in his voice.

She decided to ignore it. "So, you love me?" she asked skeptically.

"Like the annoying daughter I never knew I wanted," he replied with a genuine grin.

Fiona scrunched up her face in the universal sign of 'eww!'. "You'd grope your daughter?"

"Alright, niece then."

"Ugh, I'm in your mind, I know the majority of pervy things you think of me!"

"Cousin?" he tried.

"That's still wrong."

His eyebrow raised thoughtfully. "Twice removed?"

"I'm pretty sure it would be more than 'twice'. Jeez, what kind of family did you grow up in?"

Dracula's lip twitched at Fiona's frustration.

"A very close one," he replied innocently, fighting to hide his amusement from her. It worked.

Fiona shuddered in disgust. "That could explain _**so**_ much. But let's just forget all that. Tell me about these new vamps?"

He moved to sit on a bench, looking up at her seriously. "They're descendant's of Lilith's bite, not mine, and I believe they're trying to awaken her. I do not know where her remains are, nor why they search for mine. All I know is that you cannot -as you may have noticed- kill them with silver stakes. They must be wooden."

"So that's where that wood myth comes from... but isn't Lilith just a story? I thought that vampires started with you," she stated in confusion.

"That's because her kin is rare to find; unlike mine, they like to hide. Lilith was cursed long before me, though. She was the first woman on earth, after all."

Nodding in thought she sat down beside him. "I need you to wake me up now, I gotta get this info to the Order."

"As you wish, my dear."

* * *

Two days. Two very hectic days is how long it had been since Dracula's little confession. Fiona has been busy ever since. First she had to formulate a plan on how tell everyone this new information. She couldn't tell them how she really got it, after all.

After a while she finally decided to just tell Xavier the truth and let him feed everybody the info; he's a powerful telepath, no one would question him as much about how he got it. And he, in turn, agreed not tell anyone her part in it.

Reports came in this morning that two slayers managed to kill three Lillins (as they are now calling the new vamps) with the new stakes last night. When the news came Fiona could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from every Order member world wide; they'd finally found a weakness!

Yesterday they sent Fi a case of wooden stakes (like she couldn't have gotten them on her own - it was just a bunch of pointy sticks. The backyard was full of them. Duh.) and she found that they were much harder to use than silver ones. After a few trial and errors (and many splinters) she was starting to get the hang of it.

Now with the drama of the new vampires slowly dying down, she still had one more problem. Warren. She wasn't quite sure what to think of him anymore, he acted like their chat didn't happen. Like _nothing _happened. Which was good, yes, but definitely not what she'd expected. He acted like nothing fazed him.

_"The boy comes on to you, then pretends it doesn't happen after you basically tell him you're not interested. Yet you still expect him to react to your presence? And you mock __**my**_ _ego?" _Dracula asked her skeptically.

_"Shut up,"_ she snapped back at him.

_"I'll agree that him knowing your true nature is worrying... but you, my dear, are becoming obsessed with him."_

_"I said shut up! There __**is**_ _something wrong with him... I know there is. I seriously think he could be crazy."_

And she had a plan to find out if he was. A plan that's foolproof . It's name, ironically, was Gambit. Now if the freaking idiot would just hurry up and call her back, then everything would be fine. Sitting down at her usual table for lunch she pulled out her cell phone to see if he left any messages.

Nothing. Stupid Cajun.

On top of everything else Fiona is currently dealing with, there was Lash and Speed. Those two were acting far more shifty then usual, which alerted Fi that they're definitely up to no good.

Popping open her chocolate pudding she decided that they weren't her problem. They were their parents and the school staff's problem. After that, they became society's. Not hers.

Catching sight of Layla entering the cafeteria Fiona paused mid-bite as the girl headed to Warrens table.

"Hi Warren," Layla greeted with a smile, sitting down across from him.

"Did I do or say anything last night to make you think this is ok?" he asked in a confused, yet threatening, tone. Fiona quirked an eyebrow in amusement at the scene. He has no idea who he's up against.

Layla gave a short fake laugh, appearing unconcerned. "Funny. You're never gonna believe what happened. I was about to ask Will to homecoming when, wouldn't you know it, I said I was going with you instead."

"I don't remember that being the plan."

Magenta suddenly popped out of nowhere, sitting down next to Layla. "Hey. You did the history homework?" she asked the other girl, completely ignoring Warren.

"What are you doin'?" Warren asked, glaring at the shape-shifter.

"Sitting."

"No one sits here but me," he explained through gritted teeth.

Magenta looked at him with an expressionless face. "Mm-hmm," she deadpanned.

Then she turned back to Layla. "What'd you get for four? I wasn't sure if Tigerman was, A) bitten by a radioactive tiger, or B) bitten by a regular tiger, then exposed to radiation."

"Hey. Are we eating at Warren's table now? I feel extremely dangerous," Ethan said, also popping out of nowhere and sitting down next to the pyro. If Fiona didn't know better, she'd say Warren was starting to panic...

"Whoa! Whoa!" he cried in anger.

"Is this guy bothering you, Magenta?" Zach asked, sitting down on Warrens other side.

"Try the other way around," Warren growled.

Contrary to his outward actions, though, Fi could hear his heart start pumping faster and there was a shift in his scent - oh yeah, he was scared. Not that she blamed him; that group of sidekicks is pretty scary. Once they latch on to you, you're stuck for life. Fi should know, they've been bugging her since she met them. Except for today.

Today seems to be Warrens turn.

"Does anyone else need a date for homecoming?" Warren asked sarcastically. His eye twitched when Ethan raised his hand. Fiona snickered, flipping her cell open she aimed it at her fellow pyro and took a picture. She just found a new screensaver for her laptop!

Spotting Will within hearing distance, Layla gave a loud fake laugh."Warren, you are _crazy_!" then spoke lower so only they could hear "Please, I promise, I'll make this as painless as possible."

"So you're not doin' this just 'cause you like me or anything. You're doin' it to get to Stronghold," Warren said.

Layla gave an apologetic look to the older boy. "Yeah."

He actually smiled. "Then I'm in. But I'm not renting a tux," he added, losing the smile. Getting up he left the table, and only Fiona noticed that he was using a lot of restraint not to just run for it. When he was out of earshot she started laughing. Loudly. Many turned to look at her like she was crazy.

"Hey, if Warren's not here, is this still the tough-guy table?" Ethan asked suddenly.

"Oh God." Fiona wheezed in laughter, tears flooding her vision.

"_You're about to become the first vampire to die from lack of oxygen,_" Dracula quipped dryly.

Fiona fell off the bench at that, laughing harder.

* * *

Heading to her locker to pick up her book for history class, Fi was interrupted by the sound of Aqua's 'Barbie Girl' song blaring from her pocket. Several heads turned to her in amusement. Ignoring her fellow, and judgmental students (it's a catchy song, dammit!), she pulled her ringing cell phone from her pocket. Seeing the name 'Remy' flashing on the screen she quickly dashed into the girls bathroom. After checking that she was alone Fiona accepted the call.

"What took you so long?"

"Hello to y' to petite. Jus' got y'r message t'day, Remy sorry if he left y' waitin' by de phone," came Remy's (aka Gambit) familiar voice on the other end, in his usual lazy accent.

"I need a favor," she said, getting straight to the point.

"Figured dat Fi. People only call when dey need somethin' from Remy."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you love it. It's a power trip for you."

"True. Now what dos' de little Firebird need?"

"Don't call me that for starters. Secondly, I need all the info you can get on someone; medical records, criminal records...report cards.. hell, even _birthday cards_. Anything and everything you can find," she stated seriously to the former thief. The former and still _well connected_ thief, that is.

_"Right, you're not obsessed,"_ Dracula added, mirth flooding off him. Fiona, now fed up with him, blocked him out.

"Y' know dat de Chaton is quite de little hacker, why not ask her?" Remy asked in confusion.

To know Remy you have to take a small crash course in French... or at least whatever version of it he spoke. Her first week of knowing him she had to have Logan translate the Cajuns conversations for her. Thankfully, after a while, she picked up on his weird language. Fiona even liked the way he spoke in third person. Well, okay, it was annoying sometimes, but what can you do?

"Because Kitty has a big mouth," Fiona replied, "you, on the other hand, know how to keep things quiet. This isn't something I want anyone to know about. It's just a personal thing."

"Ahhh, say no more, Gambit understands. But if he dos' dis, what be in it for him?"

"No chance you could just do this out of the goodness of your heart?" she tried hopefully.

"Non."

"Fine, what do you want?"

"Information."

Fi grinned. "You mean there's something the great thief can't get on his own? Didn't think that could happen."

He decided to ignore that. "It's 'bout de Rogue... de only ones Remy can ask are de Elf and Chaton. An' de Elf is too protective of his 'sister', an' Kitty is loyal to her."

"Awww, you're still hung up on Rogue? Poor little Gambit," she replied, giving a genuine smile at that. During her visit at the X-Mansion it had been obvious that he worshiped the southern goth. Rogue constantly turned him down, though. Everyone thought it was because Rogue truly hated him. However Fiona (and maybe Logan and Xavier) knew better. The girl was just afraid because of her mutation; she didn't want to hurt anyone.

"Remy has a nice evenin' planned for him an' his chere, but he needs jus' a few more bit's of information to make it perfect for her," Remy explained.

"Wait, she agreed to go out with you?"

"Non."

"But you're planning a night out with her anyway?"

"Oui," he replied innocently.

"This isn't going to involve chloroform is it?" she asked suspiciously.

"At de moment, non... but Gambit makes no promises; you've met her."

Fiona knew he was serious about that. From what she'd heard, Remy had kidnapped Rogue once before, back when he was a villain. But she also knew he adored Rogue and wouldn't hurt her. Rogue would never be in safer hands than Gambits... even if he was using those hands to knock her out with various chemicals, then to tie her up and force her to share some homemade gumbo with him by candlelight. Gambit simply shows his affection differently than most people. That's just how he rolls.

"Okay, what do you want to know?" she replied.

"Her favorite color an' movie."

_"__**That's**_ it? You seriously can't get that on your own?" Fiona asked in disbelief.

"Don' say it like dat chere - Remy's shamed 'nough as it is," he said in a wounded tone.

This is just hilarious! Fiona fought back a laugh and said, "Consider it done. But you don't get the info until I get mine."

"Y' don' trust Remy?"

Fiona laughed outright at that_. "Non,_" she replied, copying his accent.

Gambit chuckled lightly. "Smart fille. Alright whose life story y' need?"

"He's the son of Baron Battle. His name's Warren Peace."

The line was silent for a minute before he replied slowly. "Warren Peace?... _War __**and **__Peace_? Really?"

"Yup."

He started laughing hysterically.

Another moment passed before he slowly began to catch his breath. "Tank his mother for me," he finally managed to say between giggles.

"There's a long line. Anyway, I gotta get to class now Remy, talk to ya later," she said, also smiling at Warrens name. Well, that and the fact that Remy was actually giggling. Normally it sounded wrong coming from a man, but he was pulling it off nicely. Weird.

Still giggling Remy said, "Later chere," and the line went dead.

Cursing as the bell rang for class Fiona quickly dialed Kitty's cell. Rogue didn't have her own, but wherever Kitty was, Rogue was - though it wasn't by the goth's choice. After meeting Layla, Fiona now felt sorry for always laughing at Rogue's predicament with Kitty's attachment to her. Karma was a bitch.

After just two rings Kitty's perky voice answered. "Hello?"

"Hey Kit, it's Fiona. Is Rogue there?"

"Sure! Hang on a sec - ROGUE! FI'S ON THE PHONE!"

Muffled noises could be heard for second before Rogue's familiar southern drawl came through. "Fi?"

"Yeah, it's me, listen I'm sorry to bug you but I needed to speak with you about something real fast - I'm in a hurry, though."

"Oookay... what is it?" she asked slowly, confusion clearly ringing in her voice.

If Remy had a hard time getting this info, then Fiona would too. This was going to have to be done Bond style. Completely smooth and undercover. This would have to be well thought out, and perfectly executed...

"What's your favorite movie and color?" Fiona asked bluntly.

What? What are you all looking at? Hey, she did enough undercover work everyday by playing a 'human', she didn't have the time or patience to do it for any other reason.

"Uh, Shakespeare in Love and purple... why?" Rogue said, sounding even more bewildered then before.

Huh. That was easy.

"No reason. Anyway, nice talking with you, but I gotta get to class. Bye," she replied snapping her phone closed, not even waiting for Rogue's reply. Smiling widely Fiona quickly rushed to class.

* * *

One minute. Just one freaking minute late and she'd gotten detention for it.

"This sucks," she whined out loud to herself, while rubbing her head.

Every kid in this school hated this room, but Fiona was very sure that she despised it the most. The room was all white, and with her enhanced eyesight the effect was blinding. Too bad this room couldn't nullify her powers. Well, it did, but only her x-power. It had absolutely no effect on her vampiric ones.

Fiona was experiencing one hell of a migraine because of this, and her healing power was doing very little to make it go away.

"This really sucks," she whined again, just as she heard someone approach the door. Lifting her head to the door she straightened up in her seat when she saw Lash enter. It had been a while since she'd spoken to him or Speed.

"Hey," she said when he noticed her in the corner.

He gave a lazy grin. "Hey, what are you in for?"

"Late for class. You?"

"Ditching class," he replied, moving to sit in the seat next to her.

"Where's your other half?"

"He got away before Power's caught us. He didn't have the decency to take me with him," he said, then added with a smile, "makes me so proud of him."

Fi laughed and wiped away a fake tear. "Our boy's growing up so fast."

Lash laughed with her and played along. "One day you're teaching them the proper way to derail a train, and the next they're tying you to the tracks."

"We'll make a fine villain out of him yet," she said jokingly, Lash's demeanor changed slightly at her words though. His laugh became forced and his heart sped up a little.

"So," she continued lightly, "sorry about your reign ending the other day."

"Huh?"

"Your guys' winning streak at Save the Citizen; you lost to Peace and Stronghold, remember?"

"Oh, yeah... thanks for reminding me," he said sourly.

"So, what's new with you?" she asked changing the subject.

"Nothing much," he replied smoothly, slouching down in his seat a little, acting nonchalant. And thanks to Fiona's senses (the very ones she'd been cursing a few minutes ago) she was able to tell that that's all it was. An act.

Hmmm, so she was right when she suspected they were up to something. The question now, was what exactly are they up to? And did she _really _want to know?

Probably not.

"Really? I've seen you hanging out with Gwen's group a lot lately," she asked him, mimicking his actions and slouching down in her chair.

His eyes bulged slightly. "Yeah, well... uh, Speed's kinda got a thing for Penny," he stammered.

Fiona nodded in understanding even though she knew it was a lie. "Good for him. So what's the plans for homecoming?"

"We've been meaning to talk to you about that... see, uh... well, we can't take you this year," he replied slowly, not meeting her gaze.

"Why not?" she asked in surprise.

"Well Speed's going with Penny and she's not really okay with hanging out with sidekicks."

"Oh. Well, me and you can still hang out," she said hopefully, fighting back disappointment. Not that she'd ever admit it.

"Not really, I agreed to go with Sara Wynters."

Wait a minute.

"Freeze girl? I thought she hated you! How'd you pull that off?"

"A lot of time and effort. Anyway, I'm sorry about this... but you don't even like dances anyway, remember last year we had to drag you there?" he said. He may have sounded genuinely sorry, but Fi could feel the emotions coming off him very easily. He didn't want her to go.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll just stay home and hang with Jake then," she replied casually, pretending she didn't care.

Not that Jake was even home yet. She'll be all alone stuffing her face and watching tv. She couldn't believe that Lash and Speed were ditching her. Fiona felt a pout coming on but bravely fought it back.

"_Maybe_," she thought hopefully, "_I'll go Lillin hunting and try out those new stakes_."

Oh who was she kidding? The new vamps hadn't set foot in Maxville for a long time, and she doubted they'd start again now that they knew the Order knew their weakness. Or at least one of them. And it was probably too much to ask for any other type of creature that goes bump in the night to drop by.

Sighing softly she made a mental note to pick up some ice cream and a TV Guide on her way home today.

* * *

It's 7:30pm in Maxville, and there is currently a new breed of evil making it's way through the darkened streets. Something so terrible that any animal that crossed it's path ran away in fear. So horrifying that any other demon lurking in the shadows decided it was safer to stay hidden.

It was so bad that even Dracula was forced to hide by blocking himself away from Fiona; she hadn't even known he could _do_ that.

That's right. This current threat against the world stood proudly at five foot, wielding a carton of chocolate chip ice cream, a TV Guide, and a wooden stake... using it as a microphone.

"We never thought we'd find a place where we belooong! Don't have to stand alone, we'll never let you faaall! Don't need permission to decide what you belieeeve!" Fiona sang loudly and off key before pausing dramatically.

Flipping her hair she struck a pose. "_**Ooo**_**!** **I said jump!** Down on Jump Street, **I said jump**! Down on Jump Street!" she continued enthusiastically, dancing like an idiot down the sidewalk on her way home.

"Your friends will be there when your back is to the waaall! You'll find you'll need us cause there's no one else to caaall! When it was hopeless a decision is what you need! You'd better be ready to, be ready to **jump!** **21 Jump, Street!**"

"Fi?" a small voice asked from behind her. Stumbling, Fiona whipped around in embarrassment, seeing Layla standing behind her on the sidewalk.

"Oh, heh... hey Layla," she replied, fighting a blush. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm just on my way home from Wills," the other girl replied, sniffling a little. Only then did Fi realize Layla was crying.

"What's wrong?" she asked in concern. It was weird to see this usually happy person so sad.

Actually, 'sad' didn't even begin to cover it; she looked _broken_. Someone broke the clingy hippie. Oh, hell no. That is not okay in Fiona land.

"Who do I have to kill?" Fiona asked, walking closer to the redhead, looking for any injuries on the other girl.

Layla sniffed and cracked a small smile, unaware that Fi was serious. "It's Will, he doesn't want to be my friend anymore."

"What? No way."

"Yes way... he even had a party tonight and didn't invite me. He didn't invite any of us; he's to good for _sidekicks_."

"He said that?" Fi asked in disbelief. That didn't sound like Will. True, she didn't know him all that well, but he didn't come across like someone who would do that.

Of course, she hadn't thought Lash or Speed would do that to her either. So her judgment, obviously, wasn't the best in that area.

"Men are idiots," Fiona finally said, trying to console her friend.

"Yeah. So what are you doing? Oh! Are you _hunting_?" Layla asked in a excited whisper, pointing to the stake in Fi's hand. Clearly she was trying to ignore her own problems for the moment. Fiona decided to let her and dropped the previous subject.

"No, I was just on my way home from the store... I always keep a stake on me, though. Makes me feel safe."

"Oh," the younger girl said in disappointment.

"Come on Red, I'll walk you home."

Both girls turned and began walking towards Layla's. A few minutes passed in comfortable silence before a loud growl was heard behind them. They paused and simultaneously turned their heads to the sound.

Layla's eyes widened while Fi's narrowed at the sight of a very large beast behind them. It looked like a large wolf, but stood on it's hind legs like a man and reached about seven foot. It bared long white fangs and growled again at them, with it's eyes glowing yellow.

Fiona's own fangs extended out of instinct as her eyes began to glow red. Meeting the beast's gaze steadily, she growled back at it.

"What is that?" Layla managed to croak out through her fear.

"That," Fiona said, slowly moving to stand in front of Layla, blocking the creatures view of the other girl, "would be a werewolf."


	7. Chapter 6: Dances with Wolves

**Disclaimer:  
Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

**_Chapter Six: _ Dances with Wolves**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

Okay, so this was _probably_ all Fiona's fault. She was the one who'd been hoping for _'any other type of creature that goes bump in the night to drop by' - _but not tonight! She wanted it tomorrow night. The night of the dance. Dammit! Why does fate refuse to let things go her way for once? Also, she definitely did not want this to happen with an innocent bystander (Layla) around_. _

Layla's shaky voice interrupted Fi's mental rant. "Maybe we should-"

"Careful Red, it understands everything we're saying," Fi cut her off in warning, still keeping eye contact with the werewolf and a protective stance in front of the redhead.

"Oh," came the faint reply, which could barely be heard over the roar let loose by the werewolf.

The beast took that moment to leap at the girls. Layla screamed in fear as Fiona jumped towards the monster, clashing with it in mid-air. Loud growls could be heard from both fighters as they tumbled together to the ground.

Quickly rolling to her right, Fiona barley avoided loosing her head to the beast's large jaws. She was on her feet in seconds, searching the pockets on her pant legs for a silver stake. Just as her hand clamped around it, she was clipped from the side.

"Fuc-!" was all she got out before they fell to ground once again.

Glaring up into yellow eyes, Fiona, despite the urgency of the situation, noticed something behind the wolf's head. It was a nice view of the sky... complete with a bright shiny moon. Although there was one problem with the sight.

The moon wasn't full.

This means one of two things: either the werewolf on top her is a normal half-blood, using some sort of spell to change into his beast form, or this is a full-blood. A full-blood is the only kind of werewolf that can change into it's beast form whenever it chooses, not just during the full moon.

Reaching up quickly, she grabbed the large hairy arm currently raised above it's head, ready to strike down at her. Doing her best to hold the creature in place, Fi frantically looked along it's body in search of some sort of talisman that it could be being used to keep him (as she realized that the monster was indeed a male - kinda hard to miss once he's laying on top of you...) in his wolf form.

If she found one, all she had to do was rip it off and he'll become human again. If she doesn't find one, well, then she was in trouble. No talisman means he's a full-blooded werewolf, and silver doesn't kill full-bloods; only the half-bloods.

Loosing the power struggle, Fiona screamed as five long claws slashed her throat. Pain swiftly swept over her, leaving her paralyzed, and her vision blurred.

"_I hate it when that happens," _she thought drowsily, feeling the warmth of her own blood gushing down the back of her neck, staining the road under her.

Fiona let out another scream, though it came out as a gurgle (ripped throat and all), as he sank his other clawed hand into her stomach.

This wasn't anything new; she'd healed from worse. As long as he didn't go and decapitate her or something, Fi will be fine. Of course that knowledge didn't make the pain go away, though.

In the middle of her pain filled delirium, Fiona felt his weight suddenly disappear. Sluggishly cracking open her eyes she saw a worried Layla hovering over her.

"Fi? Fi! Oh God, are you okay- oh, of course you're not - what was I thinking? I should call someone right? Right? Oh, you can't answer. Oh my God - there's so much blood - Wait! I have my cell, I'll get help!" Layla squeaked out in a hysterical rush, reaching into her pocket for her phone.

"_Well, it's good to know she isn't the panicky type,_" Fi thought dryly.

Reaching up slowly, Fiona grasped Layla's hand and stopped her from dialing anyone.

"What? Fi, I need to get help," Layla stated, trying to take her hand back. Fi tightened her grip, feeling her healing power kick in; she opened her eyes fully and moved to sit up.

Layla watched in awe as the gashes across Fiona's throat started to heal, leaving nothing but blood stains behind.

"I'm fine," Fiona managed to croak out, moving to sit up on her knee's as the wounds on her stomach healed. Ignoring the redhead's wide eyes, Fiona looked around in search of the werewolf, then cocked her head slightly when she spotted him tangled up and pinned down by a countless number of vines.

Looking at Layla then slowly back to the growling 'bush', Fiona let out a small chuckle. A human just saved her. Well, that's one way to keep her ego from getting out of hand. Besides Jake, that is.

"Oh... the whole vampire thing, I forgot," Layla said in relief.

"Duh," Fiona replied, grinning with fangs showing just a bit before moving to stand up.

"What do we do with it?" Layla asked, looking over at the werewolf.

"Well, that depends," Fiona said, moving towards the tangled beast. At her words the werewolf stilled it's struggle, clearly listening to what she had to say. Meeting it's gaze once again, she smirked.

"On what?" Layla questioned, walking over to stand beside Fi.

"Well Red, there's no full moon out. That means he's using magic of some sort to change his form... in which case, all we have to do is break the spell, and viola: he'll be human again. Their human forms are much more easier to deal with."

"We read about that in class, it's usually a talisman or something. But how do we get close enough to find it?"

"Simple," Fiona said, then turned to address the werewolf directly. "You can remove the spell yourself or Flower-Power Girl over here will just add just a_ few _thorns and itchy types of plants to your little garden arrangement there. Are you a fan of cactuses?"

"

His eyes widened, and Fiona smiled in response. However, instead of quickly changing into his human form and begging for mercy, he snarled at her defiantly.

Damn. She was hoping he wouldn't call her bluff - she doubted Layla would actually help torture him.

"Fi," Layla whispered to her, completely on cue, "do we have to actually hurt him?"

So Fiona's suspicion was correct. Why is it that she's only right about things when it's_ not _in her favor? Fiddlesticks!

"Fine," she sighed.

Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a silver stake. The wolf merely snorted at the sight. Focusing her senses on him, she felt no fear coming off him.

He wasn't scared of the silver. That could be problematic.

"You can't just kill him!" Layla cried out, grabbing Fi's arm. "He's like you, he's still half human."

Fiona blinked slowly and finally turned her gaze away from the wolf's amused eyes to meet Layla's pleading ones.

"Even if that's true, as a half human he has free will. He chose his team."

"B-but, we can call for backup; they'll lock him away."

"Red, this is different then the laws normal humans and mutants, live by. Different from the ways you fight. There is no prison that can hold us - not forever anyway. It's kill or be killed," Fiona said softly, trying to comfort the peace loving teen.

Layla looked taken aback, as the reality of what Fiona, Jake, and the Order stand for, slapped her in the face. There's no capes, masks, ray-guns, or fan clubs for them. No witty banter with their enemies before good inevitably wins. No villains going to jail with their powers nullified.

The only way to nullify in this fight is to kill. The only way to win... is to kill.

Layla looked torn but slowly removed her hand from Fi's shoulder and looked away. Fiona moved quickly, trying to make this as painless as possible for Layla, and threw the stake at the wolf, embedding it in his chest before the other girl could think about it anymore.

However instead of ending this, Fiona soon realized that instead all she gained was confirmation to her previous fears about him. All the wolf did was yelp in pain, but that was it.

That shot should have killed him instantly.

"Oh, damn," Fiona said, backing up quickly, pulling Layla with her.

"What?"

"He's a full-blood," Fiona replied.

They needed to get out of here. Fast. Grabbing a confused Layla around waist, Fiona vaulted them both high into the air, landing three houses down the road... on the roof.

"Okay, listen up Red," Fi whispered, keeping a firm grip on Layla so the girl wouldn't fall off the slanted roof. "I know your house is just across the street, but if we go there he'll know were you live. So we're gonna have to make it to my house before he gets out of the vines."

Layla nodded in understanding. "But can't he trace our scents?"

"That's why we're traveling by air; makes it harder to track."

"Oh, okay... would this help too?" Layla asked waving her hand out in front of her in a circular motion. Every yard on the block was suddenly full of flowers. Lots, and lots of flowers. Fi's senses were flooded by all the different scents. Eyes watering in reaction, she felt a small pang of sympathy for the poor werewolf; if it was doing this to her, she could only imagine what it was doing to him, as he was actually down there surrounded by the stuff.

"I pity anyone who manages to actually piss you off," Fiona told the other girl, before taking another large leap into the air.

They landed in Fiona's front yard two minutes later.

"Well, that was fun," Fi said sarcastically, unlocking her front door and letting them both in. "You want a snack or something to drink?" she asked, heading straight down the hall to the kitchen.

Layla entered the kitchen shortly behind her. "Sure, whatever you have is fine," she said, sitting down at the small kitchen table.

Fiona, having already opened the fridge, looked at the jug of blood in her hands and snickered under her breath. Deciding not to go there, she reached back into the fridge and pulled out a can of Coke for her friend.

Handing Layla her soda she turned back to get a mug out of the cabinet to pour her own 'drink' into.

"You're not going anywhere tonight, so you might wanna call your mom and let her know," she advised, spotting a bag of Twizzlers at the back of the cabinet. So that's where Jake hid them. HA!

Opening the bag giddily, Fiona turned to offer Layla some, but paused at the sight of the girl staring at her cell phone with puffy eyes.

"What is it?" Fi asked, moving to sit by her.

"It's Will; he's been trying to call... he wants me to meet him at the Paper Lantern."

"When?"

"Now."

"Out of the question. We dunno how long wolfboy will be in the area. Besides, Will needs to come to _you,_ not the other way around."

"But maybe-"

"No. You let him grovel," Fiona said firmly, cutting Layla off.

"Is it safe for him to be out with the werewolf still out there?"

Fi nodded. "Yeah, don't worry, he was after me."

"How do you know for sure?"

"Long story, Red. Just trust me."

"Alright. I'm going to call my mom now."

Fiona got up, grabbed her drink and candy, leaving the room to give her some privacy... even though she could still hear from the other room with her enhanced hearing. It's the thought that counts.

Sitting down on the couch she let out a sigh. So, now _all_ of Lilith's 'kids' are getting involved in the game. Great. Just freaking great! As if those damn Lilin uber-vamps hadn't been bad enough. Now that they (the Order) knew about the wooden stakes, it seems the Lilin team is sending out it's plan 'B'.

It must be nice to have a plan 'B'.

Fi snorted to herself. "_Hell, it would be nicer to have a plan 'A',_" she complained mentally.

Full-blooded werewolves haven't been seen in centuries - half-bloods yes, but not full-bloods. A half-blood is someone who was born human, then bitten (or scratched) by a werewolf. A full-blood, however, is born as one.

The difference is that full-bloods are unkillable... or at least no one's been able to kill one yet. Well, aside from decapitation, but that would kill practically anything.

Except zombies, mummies, and pixies.

She learned the pixie thing the hard way. Turns out that they multiply; cut off ones head (or any limb) and it morphs into a whole new pixie, while the original just grows a new head (or any other limb that was cut off) in it's place. Really frustrating creatures to go up against - they have extremely sharp teeth too. Fiona is lucky that her healing power makes in impossible to scar... Jake was not so lucky.

Anyway, back to the point. While decapitating a werewolf would work, it was a very hard thing to do. Fiona had only ever met half-bloods until tonight, and they were hard enough to fight as it is. If tonight was anything to go by, then she's definitely going to need backup in case more come along.

And let's face it; they will.

"_Something along the lines of Ares himself would be nice,_" she thought to herself, only slightly joking. Having the god of war on her team would be a sweet deal.

"_To bad he doesn't exist_._ I truly did not think any full-blooded wolves were left. You will need a miracle to win this,_" Dracula said, breaking into her thoughts.

"_You are such a pessimist - why do you insist on bringing me down with you_?" she groaned in irritation, biting off a piece of candy and rolling her eyes.

"_I enjoy your company," _came his impish reply.

"My mom said it's okay if I stay the night, and she's going to call uncle Simon and let him know about the werewolf," Layla said as she came into the room.

"Okay. Well, Jake's still hanging at Xavier's so you can bunk in his room tonight," Fi replied, standing up to show Layla the way.

Halfway up the staircase Layla looked at her and scrunched up her nose. "Your shirt is completely ruined," she said, indicating all the rips and bloodstains that now adorned the once beautiful blue shirt.

Fiona gave an uncaring shrug. "It was Jake's."

* * *

There's nothing greater than that certain time in the morning when you're just waking up; half awake, half asleep, and all cuddled up under soft blankets. Just laying there listening to the birds chirping outside and enjoying the smell of breakfast slowly making it's way through the house. Yes, there's nothing better than the smell of... pizza?

Cracking open her eyes, Layla looked around in confusion. It took a few minutes before she remembered where she was. Rolling out of Jake's bed she got dressed and made her way downstairs, following her nose to the kitchen.

Reaching the hall just before the kitchen she paused upon hearing two loud voices.

"Come on Fi, I need a little back up!" Jake's voice cried in frustration.

"I can't fight that thing! I'll die!" Fiona's voice argued back frantically.

Eyes widening, Layla hurried into the kitchen, ready for action. She was confused (a feeling that she finds herself rapidly getting used to in Fiona's presence) when all she saw was Jake and Fiona sitting at the kitchen table across from one another, each with a laptop in front of them. It looked a lot like two people playing battleship.

"You have enough reagents, I know you do! Even if you die you can always get resurrected - besides this is _your_ quest!" Jake said, glaring at Fi over the top of his white laptop.

"Exactly what are you two doing? And shouldn't you be in Bayville?" Layla asked Jake, moving to grab a slice of plain cheese pizza from the counter, where three pizza boxes laid open.

"Decided to come home early," he said, never taking his eyes away from the screen in front of him.

Fiona smirked. "Yeah, what he means is that Logan finally figured out why Jay liked to hang around him so much," she added, her eyes never leaving her own computer in front of her, either.

Layla sat down on one of the bar stools at the kitchen counter, waiting for one of them to elaborate. The only sound that filled the room, however, was the sound of rapid clicking.

"Fi don't run! Please - just... _**DAMMIT**__**FIONA!**_" Jake yelled, breaking the silence.

"Oh calm down. I'll come back and loot your corpse; you won't lose any of your stuff," Fi replied calmly.

"The hell you will! That requires you to come back into the area, and I'm pretty sure that the monster's still there."

"Oh. Yeah, well... uh, I'll buy you some new armor."

"Forget it! That was the last quest I'm going on with you. You wanna be changed into an Elf? Then you do it alone."

"It's not my fault!"

"Yes it is! You're a Grandmaster Mage! You could have taken that thing! Why do you always run?"

"I don't like confrontations."

"Oh that's hilarious," Jake deadpanned, getting up to grab some pizza. Passing Layla he shook his head in aggravation.

"You can't get the girl to back down from any creature in real life, oh no, like an idiot she always jumps head first into fights. But online, where it's all fake, is when she shows caution," he ranted, taking a large bite of pizza, and sitting on a stool next to his cousin.

"Sooo," Layla said slowly, looking between them both curiously, "World of Warcraft?"

"No, Ultima Online. It's kinda like Warcraft though," Fiona answered, eyes still glued to her yellow laptop.

"Uh huh. So you guys dedicate your lives to fighting evil demons, then in your free time you do it some more... but in an online game?" Layla asked, smiling in amusement.

"There's a big difference. In real life I only fight because it's my duty," Fi replied, eyes still on the screen.

"And online?"

Fiona blinked slowly and looked up at her, obviously trying to think of a good reply, causing Layla to giggle at the sight. She'd never pegged Fi as a gaming nerd.

"Umm, well... online I get to do it all as an elf. Or at least I will be after this quest," Fiona finally said simply, turning her attention back to the game.

"So I heard you took on a Lycan last night," Jake said to Layla, giving her a proud smile.

"Lycan?" Layla asked.

"That's what Jake and I decided to call the full-blooded werewolves. It's easier to say, and causes less confusion," Fi supplied.

"Oh... Underworld right?"

"Yup," Jake and Fi chirped at the same time.

"When did you get back?" Layla asked her cousin.

"Around 4am. Drove all day and night to get here," Jake replied around a mouth full of pizza.

"Four? Oh jeez, I'm sorry I made you have to sleep on the couch," Layla apologized, guilt quickly flowing through her.

Fiona chuckled dryly. "Yeah, like Jay would really have the decency to sleep on the couch - that might have been less annoying. He's not capable of such an action."

Layla turned to Jake with interest. "Where did you sleep?"

Mouth still full of pizza, Jake managed to give a sly smile. "With Fi."

Layla felt her eyes widen. "Oh. I didn't know you two were...uh... so close," she stammered, her face flushing a little at what her cousin just implied.

Fiona shut down her laptop and stood to get a drink, sharing a small smirk with Jake on her way.

"Yeah, we're very comfortable together. We've known each other our whole lives, it was bound to happen," Fi said lightly, pulling herself out a can of Coke.

"Why else do you think our parents allowed us, two hormonal teenagers, to live together without any supervision, instead of staying with you and aunt Molly?" Jake asked, slipping his arm around Fi's waist as she moved to stand beside him.

"Well, honestly, mom and I thought it was because of Fi. Uncle Simon said Fiona tended to have small outbursts after sunset, so it was safer this way."

Fiona nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's true too."

Eying them both uncomfortably, Layla cleared her throat. "So, uh, how long have you both been dating?"

Fiona hopped up to sit on Jake's lap, both gave each other a playful grin. "We're dating?" he asked, "I wish you'd said something, I might have shared the blankets if I'd known."

"Well, if _I'd_ known, I wouldn't have kicked you for trying to spoon with me," Fi replied.

Realizing they were messing with her, Layla rolled her eyes. "So you're not dating? It's like a brother and sister thing."

Fiona giggled. "More like a sister and sister thing."

"Huh?"

Jake propped his chin on Fi's shoulder and smiled at his cousin. "Kinda slow aren't you? Good thing it doesn't run in the family."

Fiona quirked an eyebrow, turning her head a little to look at him. Even though he'd walked right into that, she decided to let it go. Turning back to a confused Layla, Fiona smiled. "Jake plays for the other team," she explained.

Silence passed for a minute, before Layla gave a loud 'Oh!' as it registered.

"You don't act gay," she finally said, giving him an appraising look.

At the redheads words Jake and Fiona let loose loud peals of laughter.

"You spent the whole night in his room and _didn't_ notice his Hello Kitty collection or Johnny Depp posters?" Fiona asked through her giggles.

Layla shook her head defensively. "Johnny Depp is cool, guys are allowed to like him. And the Hello Kitty collection... well, everyone has weird little quirks; Will collects Power Puff Girls stuff. Although... now that I think about it, the pink bed-sheets was a little odd," she added, trailing off thoughtfully.

Fiona abruptly stopped laughing and whipped her head towards Jake. "What happened to the Velvet Rose Satin Bedset I got you?"

Jake, knowing what was coming, winced before reluctantly admitting his own blunder. "They were killed in a laundry accident."

True to his expectations, yet still moving too fast for him to defend himself, Fiona shifted in his lap, giving herself room to punch him in the groin before hopping off his lap.

"Those cost me _three hundred bucks_!" she growled as he yelped, falling off the stool to the floor.

Layla could do nothing but watch in amazement at the display. Was this was one of those outbursts uncle Simon had been talking about?

For the first time since learning Jake and Fi were in Maxville, Layla felt glad that they decided not to stay with her and her mother. This type of quick and unnecessary violence would definitely be out of place in her home.

"Oh it doesn't hurt that bad, you big faker," Fiona said to Jake, who was currently huddled on the floor... heaving up some pizza.

Layla was afraid to see what chaos a real argument between these two could bring.

"Hey Red, I have to go shopping, wanna come?" Fi asked, stepping causally around her fallen friend towards the back door.

Layla took a timid step in her direction, all the while casting worried glances at her cousin on the floor. "Should we just leave him?"

Fiona waved her hand at him dismissively. "Yeah, don't worry. He'll cry for a while... might even puke a little more, then he'll be fine."

"Bitch," Jake managed to say, his voice sounding very high pitched at the moment.

Fiona could see that Layla was torn between helping her family member and getting the hell out of here. When Jake finally started whimpering she saw Layla crack and move to comfort him.

"That's fine," Fi said, "I'll let you two have some family time."

And with that she hurried out the door, mind focused on nothing but getting a new carton of ice cream and TV Guide, both of which she'd lost last night during the fight.

Vanilla, Strawberry, Caramel Pecan, Rocky Road... where the hell is the plain chocolate? Slamming the freezer door shut, Fiona moved further down the aisle, hoping to find some hidden in another section. She knew it was probably hopeless, but she had to keep up some hope or else everything would be... well, hopeless.

"_That was just confusing and pathetic,_" Dracula drawled out lazily.

"_I need chocolate. I can't function properly without it_."

"_Women,_" he muttered tiredly.

Fully prepared to draw up a whole list of reasons about why chocolate is an essential part of life (complete with several mental flip charts for him to look over), she was interrupted by a small voice crying out her name.

Turning to the sound she saw a tiny blond blur headed her way. She smiled as it reached her and promptly threw little arms around her.

"Hey Toby," she greeted, hugging him back.

"Hi Fi!" he squealed happily.

"What are you doing here?"

"Mommy brought me, we're shopping."

"Where is she?"

Toby face scrunched up in thought, but was interrupted by someone shouting his name frantically. Fiona was seeing a pattern here. Looking behind the small boy she saw an older looking woman with blond hair rushing towards them.

"What have I told you about running off?" she demanded upon reaching them, casting a quick curious glance at Fi.

"Mommy, this is Fiona," Toby introduced, completely oblivious to the panic he'd caused in the poor woman. Fighting back her irritation at her youngest, Mrs. Peace nodded at Fiona.

"Hello," she said calmly, still working to slow her breathing.

Fiona was about to reply, but Toby beat her to it. "No mommy! You don't get it - this is _Fiona_. Warrens Fiona."

Mrs. Peace gave a small smile. "Yes honey, I caught that."

Fi shook her head in disbelief. "You know about me too? Exactly what is he telling you people?"

"Enough to remind me of just how much I don't miss my own teenage angst days," came the amused reply.

Fiona felt both of her eyebrows shoot towards her hairline. Angst? Since when did anything between her and Warren fall in that category? What the _hell_ is he telling these people?

"So," Mrs. Peace began, changing the subject, "are you excited about the dance tonight?"

"I'm not going Mrs. Peace."

The older woman blanched. "Alright, first of all, call me Dara. Mrs. Peace makes me feel old. Secondly, why aren't you going?"

"No one to go with."

"A pretty little thing like you?"

Fi actually blushed and bowed her head slightly. "Yeah, well that's apparently not what the guys at school think."

"Idiots," Dara said firmly and without hesitation.

"'Nah. I think it's the whole looking like a vampire thing," Fiona replied, only realizing what she'd said _after_ she'd said it. It took a lot of restraint not to giggle after that.

Thankfully though, she managed.

Appearing not to notice Fi's growing mirth, Dara continued to speak. "Nonsense. There isn't a female alive who wouldn't kill for a flawless porcelain skin tone. And just look at those blue eyes, they practically glow! Although your hair color is a little odd, you pull it off nicely - and those lips? Honey, those pouty things would drive any man mad."

Damn. This woman is very good for Fiona's ego.

"_I complement the way you look all the time," _Dracula pointed out, interrupting Fi's inner preening.

"_You have a motive though, it doesn't count," _she snipped back at him mentally.

"And you smell good," Toby added helpfully, an innocent little smile on his face, causing both women to laugh, and Dracula huff in annoyance.

"Thanks Curly," Fi chuckled.

"I'll take you to the dance!" the child offered eagerly.

Fiona smiled down at him. "As tempting as that offer is, I'm pretty sure your bedtime won't allow it."

At her words Toby turned a pleading look to his mother, who smiled gently back at him. "I don't think so."

"But mom!"

"That's enough Toby; the answer is no."

"But Warren gets to go!" he ranted, the picture complete with his small foot stomping the ground to punctuate his statement.

"Warren's older and more matur- well, he's older at least."

Fi hid a laugh as Toby's little face pulled itself into a pout.

"I'm sorry kid, I gotta get home, but thanks for the offer. It was nice meeting you Mrs. Pea- Dara."

"It was nice to meet you too, dear."

Fiona gave one last smile and turned to leave, but was stopped by a small tug on her hand. Looking down at Toby, she felt her heart break at the wide puppy dog eyes he sported.

"Can we go to the park sometime?"

Fiona glanced over at Dara for help, but the older woman silently mouthed the words 'It's up to you'.

Fi blinked in surprise. Okay, so what if Warren mentioned her to them, she'd still never actually met his mother. Dara knew nothing about her, yet she would let her kid just go with her somewhere? Maybe Warrens insanity is inherited, and not just from his father.

Reaching into one of the many pockets on her jeans Fiona pulled out a a pen and proceeded to write her cell number on Toby's palm.

"I dunno when I'll be having free time to actually go anywhere, but you can call me whenever you want. How's that?" she said giving him a warm smile.

Toby snatched his hand back from her and grinned down at it happily. "Cool!"

Shaking her head in amusement, Fiona turned to leave once again.

Well this trip wasn't completely wasted, she may not have gotten her chocolate fix (although she would later realize, much to her own irritation, that she could have just bought a chocolate candy bar) for the day, but she did get to see Toby again.

Although Fiona hates the clichedness of the whole outfit, she has to admit that the badass feeling it gives her, completely makes up for it. It was now 9pm and she's out prowling the streets with Jake, dressed in all black. Fi has on a form fitting pair of black leather jeans, a black tank top, heavy combat boots, and a long black leather duster. Oh, and a pair of fingerless gloves on each hand, simply for fighting those damn splinters. Jake is wearing basically the same thing, except his pants are baggy, and he has a choker around his neck with cross designs all over it; makes it hard for vamps to go for the jugular.

The clothes, much to Fiona's delight and annoyance, are pretty essential for demon hunting. They blended in with the darkness; the long coats held multiple pockets (she's pretty sure there are even some she doesn't know about hiding in there) and weapon holders in the lining. These clothes are also flame-retardant... and... well, okay yeah, they made both Jake and Fi feel cool.

Above all else that's pretty much the main reason for wearing them, but they both had an unspoken agreement to pretend it wasn't about that.

"Do you sense the Lycan at all?" Jake asked as they walked along the empty street, just a block away from their house. They had already been around the whole town twice and nothing had come up so far.

"Nothing. I can't even trace his aura track from last night - it's like he wasn't here at all. Can they do that?" she asked aloud even though she was really directing it at Dracula.

"I dunno," Jake replied.

Dracula was a little better with his answer. "_It's not unheard of. Some full-bloods can even mask their aura and scents so completely that you could walk right by one and not notice. But they would have to be very strong_."

Fi's eyes narrowed at the ground in agitation as she continued her slow trek beside Jake. "This sucks. I wanna trade sides; the bad guys always have more fun."

Jake looked at her and grinned. "Now how do you figure that?"

"Think about it Jay; they always control the whole damn game. They choose when each little 'fight' or whatever starts because _they_ start it. Therefore the bad guys always have the lead. We walk in blindly because it's our 'duty', and they skip happily into the situation always three steps ahead of us. They have fun throughout the whole thing because they're evil. They enjoy the mess and havoc it causes - even if it brings causalities on their own team."

Jake's grin slid off his face and a worried look slowly took its place, Fiona didn't notice, however, because her eyes were trained solely on the ground before her. "Seems like you've thought that through."

Hearing his tone Fi cursed herself mentally. She knew what he was thinking... it was why she never dared mention Dracula to anybody. Jake thought the 'vampire' part could be trying to take control. Her whole family always worried when she stepped too far out of line, or said something a little too morbid. They believe she's constantly straddling the line between good and evil because of who, or actually, _**what**_ she is.

Glancing at Jake she replied evenly, "Not really. I'm just saying that this whole guessing game sucks. For once I'd like to be in control... but I'm not gonna risk that whole eternity in hell thing just to get it. So chill."

Jake's gaze softened. "I didn't mean it like that Fi-"

"Yeah you did," she interrupted, "but that's okay; I get it."

And she did. She will never blame them for thinking the way they do; why shouldn't they? She carries Dracula's blood. Blood magic is very powerful, and very influencing. Fiona would probably act the same way if the situation was reversed.

Turning onto the street where Will Stronghold lived, both hunters saw the strangest sight. A Sky High bus was landing in front of a house just down the road.

Not a second after it landed, Will came bounding out the front door of the house, not even bothering to shut or lock it behind him. Clearly sensing his panic Fiona rushed towards him calling his name.

Will snapped his head in her direction. "Fi? Oh thank God! I need help, everyone's in serious trouble!" he exclaimed when she and Jake reached him.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked.

The bus doors opened at that moment to reveal Ron behind the wheel. "Ron Wilson: Bus Driver, at your service," he stated proudly, beaming down at the three teens.

Will grabbed both Fiona and Jake's arms, dragging them onto the bus. "I'll explain everything on the way. Ron, take us to Sky High," he ordered.

Gwen is Royal Pain's daughter. Well, it's a good thing Fiona isn't the only one who'd missed it, or else she would have felt really stupid right about now.

Will, Jake, and Fi are currently inside the school and heading for the gym. Will was ahead of them but paused at a small vent in the wall. Seeing the glow, along with hearing muttering coming from it, Fi and Will realized who it was instantly.

"Sup, kid?" Zach smiled as he climbed out, after Will removed the covering. Magenta, Layla, Ethan, and Warren soon followed. Jake and Fiona moved to lean against the lockers, out of the way.

"You're never gonna believe this. Gwen- " Will started, but was interrupted.

"Is Royal Pain's daughter," Layla finished.

Not detoured at all, Will continued. "Yeah, and she- "

"Stole the Pacifier," Warren supplied.

Will went on. "Right. And- "

It was Zach's turn this time. "She turned everybody into babies, including your parents."

Will frowned. "Okaaay, _that_ I didn't know."

"This is even more than the great Will Stronghold can handle," Layla said, her tone and words clearly showing she was still angry at him. Good girl.

"She's right. It's gonna take all of us," Will agreed.

Magenta scoffed at that. "All of who? You and Warren? The rest of us are only sidekicks."

Will shook his head. "Just because you have powers, that doesn't make you a hero. Sometimes it just makes you a jerk. Makes me a jerk. I guess what I'm trying to say is..."

Layla smiled. "We get it. You've been a jerk."

Will looked at her, a tenderness entering his eyes. "Layla, in case my homecoming date ends up killing me tonight, I just want you to know..."

He trailed off and pulled her into a kiss, which the redhead happily returned. In Fi's opinion that was nowhere near a good enough grovel. Heck that wasn't even a grovel at all! She was going to have to teach Layla a few things when this was over.

"Isn't that sweet?" Penny taunted from behind them all, causing everyone's heads to swivel towards her. "I hate sweet!"

Lash and Speed appeared on either side of her. Fiona closed her eyes briefly in dismay. Ever since Will explained everything on the way here she'd had a feeling this was coming. This is what those two have been up to. They're villains now... except they didn't want her here. They had tried to keep Fi safe by keeping her out of harms way. Dammit! Either be evil or not! Conflicted villains are very annoying.

Pushing away from the locker and the shadows, Fiona stepped into view. "Despite the disappointment this whole thing brings me, I gotta commend you on your evil laugh there Speedy; you do it nicely."

Everyone's eyes snapped in her direction, only just now realizing she was there. Both Lash and Speed gaped in surprise, guilt quickly flooding off of them both.

Will recovered first, having already known she was here, and turned back the 'villains'. "You guys are a part of this too? Why am I not surprised?"

Warren tore his gaze from Fi and quickly removed his jacket, moving to stand in front the sidekicks.

"Go take care of Gwen. We'll handle these clowns," he said confidently to Will.

Will gave an uncertain glance back at Layla, who in turn gave him an encouraging nod. "Go."

With that, Will headed to find Gwen... bursting through the walls as a shortcut.

Realizing she couldn't use any of her real weapons on them without killing them, Fiona took off her duster and threw it aside. Jake took that moment to appear beside her.

The remaining sidekicks (except Layla) and Warren looked at the newcomer in confusion.

Lash laughed in disbelief. "Jake's here too? Oh this is just great."

"Dammit Fi, did you have to come?" Speed added, his voice cracking with anger and worry.

The three friends shared a look, each pleading with the other to back down. Sadly, all three are far too stubborn to do such a thing.

"Fi, go with those two," Jake ordered, pointing to Magenta and Zach who were scrambling back into the vent.

Fiona gave him an indigent look. "Excuse me?"

Leaning forward he whispered in her ear, softly so no one would hear. "They're your friends, plus, they're human; I'm not letting you fight them."

Irritated, but also thankful, Fiona quickly moved to follow the fleeing sidekicks. Sharing one last look with her two former friends along the way.

Fiona managed to last 5 minutes and 23 seconds before she decided 'to hell with it' and left the vent.

Stumbling into the hallway she saw Layla, Warren, Ethan and Jake all headed her way. Guess they won.

Jake smirked when he saw her. "Well, you lasted longer then I thought you would."

Zach and Magenta crawled out behind her. "Who are you?" Magenta asked Jake, eyeing him up and down. Couldn't blame her; he looks hot in that outfit.

"I'm Jake, Layla's my cousin."

"So then why aren't you enrolled here?" Ethan asked.

"Because I'm not a mutant."

Ethan looked at him in amazement. "No way! Those moves you pulled on Lash were killer!"

Fiona couldn't pass it up. "Oh yeah, Jay has moves like you wouldn't believe..." she said, letting her words trail off with a suggestive grin. Jake smirked at her, while Layla cracked a grin too.

Magenta raised an eyebrow, giving Jake another full body glance, Zach and Ethan coughed uncomfortably while Warren... was glaring at Jake. Huh.

"Jake give me the blueprint you found," Layla said, remembering the current crisis on their hands.

"Blueprint?" Fi echoed as Layla took it from him and squatted down to unfold it on the floor. Everyone except Warren and Jake followed suit.

Scanning the paper in front of her, Layla explained. "Royal Pain sabotaged the antigravity device. The whole school's gonna fall out of the sky - we only have 10 minutes. Here's the antigravity room," she added pointing out the room.

"Didn't Royal Pain seal off every route?" Magenta asked.

"What about this conduit?" Ethan asked, pointing to a small looking shaft.

Zach snorted. "Yeah right. You'd have to be like a rat to fit in there."

Everyone aside from Jake paused and slowly turned to look at Magenta.

The shapeshifter slumped her shoulders. "Oh, great."

Warren and Layla took off to help Will, while Fiona decided to stay and guard Ethan and Zach as they guided Magenta through the vents, and Jake headed back outside to check on Ron.

The time ticked by quickly - something that it refuses to do when you're bored, but for some reason when an apocalypse, bomb, or antigravity device sabotage is involved, old father time decides to take a few pep-pills.

Suddenly the lights started flickering and screams erupted from Ethan and Zach as the school began to drop.

Lowering herself to ground Fiona looked around frantically. "_Oh God, we're too late_!"

"_Calm down, love,_" Dracula said comfortingly.

"_Why, do you have an idea_?"

"_Well, no actually. But you need not worry; with your powers you will surely survive the fall... and the inevitable gruesome impact_."

It was at this odd moment in time that, for some strange reason, the answer to her chocolate problem earlier in the day popped into her head.

_"Dammit! I could have just got a freaking candy bar!" _

"HOLD ME! HOLD ME!" Zach started screaming. Fiona looked over and saw him trying to hug Ethan in his hysteria.

Unable to really do anything else, she started laughing at the sight.

And then, as suddenly as everything started, it stopped.

Everyone was now de-pacified and crowding around the gym. Fiona and Jake sat alone at a small table in the back, gazing around at everyone tiredly.

Everything went silent when Mr. Medulla stepped up to the podium on stage. "I have de-Pacified all the babies and destroyed that horrible weapon forever. Let's boogie!"

Jake shook his head in bemusement. "They all just survived a horrible death, so now they party like it didn't happen?"

Fi smiled. "I told you everyone's insane here. You get used to it, though."

"So, does this mean that your story about the gym teacher dropping a car on you is true?"

"Yup. Uh, by the way, where did you get a blueprint for the school?"

"Oh, I used a 'Where Am I?' spell to create it - if you had paid attention to your magic lessons back at the Order you would know this stuff."

"Magic bugs me," she replied with a shrug, smiling when she spotted Zach and Magenta dancing. Her smile faded, though, when she saw Warren dancing with Sara Wynters.

Her eyes narrowed into slits at the sight.

"Whoa, who are you aiming that death ray at?" Jake asked, trying to follow her gaze, but failing to see anything glare-worthy in the crowd.

Dracula chuckled. "_Not obsessed at all_."

"_The next time you say that, I'm going to start with the Mina jokes,_" she warned before blocking him out.

"No one," she answered out loud to Jake as she stood up.

"Where you going?"

"_We_ are going to dance."

Knowing there was no use in arguing, Jake stood up and let her drag him to the dance floor. Dancing their way over to Zach, Magenta and Ethan they all formed a small circle and danced with each other. As the music that was playing hit the chorus Fiona laughed at the lyrics and looked over at Ethan.

"**I'll stop the world and melt with you!**" she sang loudly. Everyone laughed and joined her in serenading Ethan, who looked like he wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

"**Dream of better lives the kind which never hate!**" sang Magenta, grabbing Ethan and twirling him around.

"**Trapped in a state of imaginary grace!**" Zach sung, grabbing Ethan from her and dipping him. Though, just after he did that, Zach allowed Ethan to drop to the floor so he could go back to dance again with Magenta.

Laughing, Fiona quickly reached down and pulled the smaller boy off the ground, while singing, "**I made a pilgrimage to save this humans race! Never comprehending a race that's long gone** **by**!"

All sang together now, passing Ethan between them. "(**Let's stop the world) I'll stop the world and melt with you - (Let's stop the world) You've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time - And there's nothing you and I won't do - (Let's stop the world) I'll stop the world and melt with you!**"

Pretty much everyone else in gym was now watching their antics. Noticing the audience, Jake turned to face them and sang even louder.

"**The future's open wide**!" causing all the girls to scream loudly in excitement. Fiona rolled her eyes and pulled him back to her. "Show off," she muttered before continuing to sing with the others.

"**I'll stop the world and melt with you - I'll stop the world and melt with you!**" came the last note, causing everyone else in gym to applaud loudly.

As the pandemonium slowly died down, a slow song began to play, and the crowd dispersed as everyone paired off to dance.

Wrapping his arms around Fiona's waist, Jake grinned down at her. "As much fun as that was, I gotta point out that had that happened anywhere else, it would have been corny. And a little freaky."

Giggling she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I told you they're insane here. Things work differently with these people. The only part that surprised me was when Magenta actually joined in – that was totally out of character."

"Even so, you don't find it weird that everyone was up for that? I mean, hell, to be honest, I've never even heard that song before, but I knew the lyrics."

"Jake, let it go. It's best to just roll with this stuff; don't ruin it by asking questions."

Resting her head on his chest, Fi closed her eyes as they swayed peacefully together in silence. This had been a long day and she was tired, all she wanted was to go home and fall into bed. But that wasn't an option; as soon as she and Jake got back on solid ground he would have them back out hunting for the Lycan. Dang it.

"Hey, that tall dark and handsome guy is glaring at us. Again," Jake whispered in her ear.

Lifting her head she followed his gaze, which lead straight to Warren, leaning causally against the back wall by the exit, and he was indeed glaring at them.

Rolling her eyes she laid her head back down on Jake's chest. "Warren tends to do that a lot."

"_That's_ Warren? You mean I helped save the school side by side with _him_ and you didn't tell me?"

"Hey, if you don't have enough sense to catch the names of people working around you, then that's your problem."

"I don't know what's wrong with you Fi; if he molested me I'd be okay with it. Even if it was while we were in a pile of rubble."

"Yes, well, you're a slut," she retorted dryly.

"Oh come on! You enjoyed it, I know you did. Just look at him! Anyone would enjoy that, it's impossible not to."

Lifting her head again Fi looked Jake in the eye. "So, how's Logan doing?"

Jake's eyes narrowed. "Don't even go there."

She smirked. "So how did good old Wolverine take it when he found out about your little crush? Oh, right, he kicked you out."

"Actually, he hid in his room until I left. He didn't really know how to handle it."

"How did he find out anyway?"

Jake shrugged. "I finally just decided to make a move. We were working out in the gym, he was looking all nice and sweaty, completely distracting me, so I figured: 'why not?' - it was best just to get it over with."

"Well, just be happy he didn't pull the claws out."

Jake smiled. "True. You know, as much as rejection hurts, the look on his face was priceless. And the way he high-tailed it out of the room? Hilarious. I never thought Logan would run from anything."

"Wish I'd have seen it... you know our cell phones have those little camera's on them for a reason."

"Sorry Fi, I'll do better next time."

"You better."

Fiona was currently sitting on the edge of the school grounds, feet dangling over the side, staring thoughtfully into space. The dance was still going full swing back inside but she didn't feel like dancing anymore. The reality of the night had finally hit her.

Her two best friends (aside from Jake, but he was more like family) are now villains. Or, actually, villains in training. They're too young to be actual felons. The most that would happen is that they'll be sent to juvenile hall. Or whatever they called the mutant version of it.

She knew she should just forget about them. Push them from her mind and go on with life. They betrayed everyone, after all.

But that wasn't true.

Fiona would not abandon them, because they didn't betray her. Not really. They had actually tried to keep her safe - it wasn't their fault she'd shown up. As a matter of fact, their plan would have worked wonderfully if she hadn't been out hunting with Jake.

If she had been at home like a 'normal' girl would have been, then she wouldn't have run into Will.

No, she wouldn't just forget them; if she could accept Dracula, even with his background, as a part of her life, then she can easily accept Lash and Speed. All three of them may be evil, but they never directed it at her.

In her opinion that meant there was some hope left for them. Lash and Speed, at least. Not Dracula – Fiona was pretty sure he was gonna burn.

But if she turned away from Lash and Speed, who's to say that that wouldn't make them fall even further then they have? Nope, she is definitely going to stick around and try her best to keep them grounded.

Unfortunately for them, Fiona is the type of person whose method of such a thing involved a swift kick in the ass.

"Those stupid idiots," she muttered to herself.

Reaching into one of the many pockets inside her coat she pulled out a small, but very sharp, dagger. Flicking open her zippo she pulled a small flame into her hand. Concentrating on it, she made it grow a little larger, then morph into a small fairy shape. Handing it the dagger, she made it wield it like a sword, fighting an imaginary opponent.

Fiona felt him coming long before he reached her side.

"I never could do that, ya know," Warren said, sitting down on the ground behind her.

Fi turned around to face her fellow pyro, making the little fairy fly over and point the dagger at his face threateningly. "Do what?"

Completely unconcerned with the tiny threat before him, he answered calmly. "Make actual shapes."

Seeing that he didn't plan on reacting to her little assassin, she made it fly back over to her and took the dagger away and extinguished the fire-fairy in the process.

"Yeah, well I'd trade with you easily; fire power that actually burns would be a nice weapon."

"It takes a lot of control to make the flame into different shapes, so I know you're not lacking that. You should be able to make yours just as hot as mine."

"Yeah I should, but I'm starting to think I use too much energy from it during the daytime."

"Huh?"

Fiona pulled her legs from their position of hanging off the side of the school, turned around fully to face him, sitting Indian style. "My body automatically uses it to make sure I don't burst into flames whenever I'm in the sun - I think that uses all it's 'juice' up. Therefore, my fire will never be hot enough to do any real damage," she explained.

"That sucks."

"Yup."

"You know, for what it's worth, I'm sorry about your friends," he said sincerely.

"Huh?" she asked, thinking he meant Will and the others.

"Lash and Speed. I know that you three were good friends... how that happened I'll never understand, though," he added, shaking his head slightly in amusement.

Fiona laughed lightly. "Me neither, actually. And there's no need to be sorry; they brought this on themselves."

He nodded. "Yeah they did. But that doesn't change the fact that you care about them."

"'Course it doesn't. Hell, I even plan to visit them in the slammer - I'm gonna buy them a gift too."

At his inquiring look she grinned and answered his unspoken question. "Soap on a rope."

Warren, to Fiona's surprise, actually chuckled. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, just gazing at the stars, when Fiona realized something.

"I think this is the most peaceful conversation we've ever had," she stated.

"Yeah, it feels a little wrong," he replied thoughtfully.

"I agree. But I'm not really in the mood to argue with you,"

Warren grinned. "Well, we could just skip the arguing and have a throw-down. I'll even let you use that dagger if you want; you'll need all the help you can get anyway."

Fiona snorted. "Or I could just toss you off the edge."

"Or I could throw _you_ off," he countered.

"You wish. You couldn't kick my ass to save your life."

"You wanna bet?"

"Warren, you'd have to have super strength to kick my ass. I refuse to believe you have_ three _mutations."

Warren smiled wickedly. "I won't even have to touch you."

His whole right arm burst into flames at his words. Fiona narrowed her eyes him. "Okay, tell you what, we'll do this without powers; I'll just hold my strength back. We'll make this purely about fighting skill."

"Okay, what's the bet?"

Fi smiled confidently. "If I win, you have to come to school on Monday wearing all pink."

Warren smiled just as confidently. "Fine. If I win, you have to do the same."

"I'm a girl you idiot; pink doesn't bother me."

"Oh. Right. Well, if I win you have to dance with me, and only me, for the rest of night."

"You're on."

"You cheated," Fiona accused as they swayed to a slow song together back in gym with everyone else.

Warren quirked an eyebrow and looked down at her. "How?"

"You wasn't supposed to able to move like that. Where did you learn all that?"

"Here and there," he answered vaguely.

Knowing she'd get nothing out of him, Fiona pouted but let it drop.

She hasn't won a fight ages, and if this kept up she would definitely snap. What good is she going to be against the Lycans if she can't even fight Warren? Okay, granted, she'd held back, but so did he. Warren has more up his sleeve then she originally thought; she'd felt him give off an odd feeling a couple of times when his hold on his emotions slipped.

Like when he'd broken her jaw.

In that small instant of panic before he remembered that she would heal, his reign on his aura dropped. Fiona hadn't even known he was able to control it. Someone who's purely human doesn't have the ability to do that. Imagine her shock when he also gave off a powerful blast of energy during that short time.

Energy that humans are not able to give.

It was hard to explain, but she (like any vampire or mystical creature) can feel the aura's of everyone (and thing) around her. Everyone's aura falls into different categories and levels: humans, witches, wizards, demons, vampires, plants, animals, werewolves, elves, and fae to name a few, all give different off vibes.

More than once, Warren gave off the feeling of something stronger than human, but it was always been so brief that she could never place it - it had only been long enough to freak out all her vampiric senses. It took all her self-control not to flee out of instinct.

There are very few beings that can scare or dominate a vampire just with it's presence, and Warren, in those few moments, had managed to do just that. Thankfully, Fiona hid her reaction well.

It was possible that one of his ancestors had been fae or something, as they were known to marry humans more often than any other race. It would also explain his looks; not just anyone is this gorgeous. The fae's are well known for their dark and harsh beauty; the complete opposite of the elves' soft and bright features.

So if Fiona had to take a guess, she'd say that he could be of fae decent; his looks are dark enough. Elven men (even with human blood in them) tend to look like women, and despite Warrens hair length, he definitely did not look female. It would also explain why he was so damn tall... of course this train of thought led Fiona to an even funnier theory. Maybe Zach was of elven decent; he shined brightly enough, and he _is_ abnormally tall...

Anyway, back to Warren. Whatever was up with him, he isn't evil. If he was evil, why did he help save school?

Fiona fought back an eye roll. If Gambit would just hurry up and get back to her, she'd be able to gain a little more insight to all this. She was probably just being paranoid.

Maybe if she just- wait... what the heck? Isn't he just a little closer then before? And when did he bury his face into the crook of her neck? Is he actually nuzzling... oh _hell _no!

"Hey! I said I'd dance with you, but that's all," she hissed at him, grabbing his hair and yanking his head away from her neck. That's a sensitive area for a vampire.

"This is dancing," he argued back, voice low and gruff.

"Nuh-uh. There's a difference between dancing and cuddling. You're cuddling."

Warren glared at her for minute, then gave a tired sigh and put a little space between them. "Fine."

Yeah, whatever he is, he wasn't aiming to kill her anytime soon. Unless he was just a really good actor. But, then again, it doesn't take much acting for a teenage boy to be a pervert.

As if reading her thoughts, Warren grinned at her, sliding his hands further down her waist. "You should wear outfits like this more often."

Yup. Definitely not an act.


	8. Chapter 7: Norbie, Herbie & Weegie

**Disclaimer:  
Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.**

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**_Chapter Seven:_ Norbie, Herbie & Weegie**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

White. It was everywhere.

"Why me?" Fiona muttered to herself, looking around the large room. The large white room. The large_ blindingly _white room.

If she didn't know better she'd think she was back in detention at Sky High because that's exactly what this place looks like. It also served the same purpose.

Fiona currently sat at a long wooden table in the middle of a power nullifying visitors room at Maxville's Villain Containment Center.

It has been two weeks since the homecoming disaster, and everything was just now starting to settle down. At first everyone (the kids at least, not the teachers - Boomer was incapable of praising anyone but himself) at school treated them (Fi, Layla, Will, Magenta, Zach, Ethan, and Warren) like royalty, but the drama was finally dying down now.

It was weird at first to roam the school without Lash and Speed, but any loneliness Fiona might have felt without them never came, thanks to Layla. The hippie made sure that everyone stayed close - even Warren. Despite his many heartfelt, and sometimes heated, objections.

Normally being in a group with Warren would have bothered Fiona, but after the dance she didn't mind him as much as before. He still liked to glare, grunt, snort, threaten, and sometimes try to grope her when no one was looking, but it was all done in a playful way now. They had, by some strange miracle, come to a truce.

Heck, you might even call them friends now. But nothing more.

Fiona would admit it (to herself at least), Dracula was right, she had a small crush and the broody pyro. But she knew better than to try and take it further. She wasn't human, and that was definitely something that would not end well. Besides, Warren was dating Sara (aka FreezeGirl) at the moment. They'd gotten together a few days after the dance, and surprisingly to many, they made a nice couple.

Sure, Fiona was slightly jealous of the beautiful blue-eyed blond, and as much fun as it would be to hate the girl, she couldn't. Sara is actually a nice and caring person, and she fit into their little group nicely. Dammit.

Fiona lifted her head as the main door to the room opened to reveal two large guards escorting Lash and Speed into the room. The boys were clad in bright orange jump-suits, complete with name tags just below their left shoulders, and cuffs on their wrists.

The boys watched in confusion as the guards uncuffed them and quickly left the room, locking it behind them with a loud click. Two sets of bewildered eyes turned towards Fiona, causing her to smile brightly at them.

"Soooo, was it worth it?" she asked slowly, motioning to the ridiculous outfits they were wearing. Orange is so not their color.

Lash recovered first, moving to sit in one of the two wooden chairs across from her side of the table. "You find this funny?" he asked dully.

She leaned forward, squinting at his name tag. "Oh no, _Herburt_, I don't find it funny. I find it hilarious."

As Lash cringed at her use of his real name Speed sat down in the other chair. "We thought you'd be disappointed with us," he said, curiosity clearly lacing his tone.

"Well Norburt - mind if I call ya Norbie? No? Good. Well _Norbie_, I was disappointed at first, but I got over it," she replied quickly so he couldn't object to the nickname.

It's no wonder they never used their real names; it's also kinda freaky how their names are so similar. It appears that Warrens mother is no longer the only parent Fi has to thank.

"You're not even curious about why we did it?" asked Lash.

"I think I have a good idea. The goody-goody life that the school was preparing you for didn't really have any appeal. Gwen's plan did."

The boys shared a glance. "Well, yeah," they replied in unison.

"And between the two of you, you didn't have a big enough brain to realize that you didn't have to make that type of choice."

Once again, they replied at the same time. "Hey! We-"

Fiona raised her hand, effectively shushing them. "Don't interrupt. I get that that's how you were raised; you can either be a hero or a villain. There's no in-between. But that type of thinking is just stupid. You can be good without being all..." she trailed off, trying to think of a way to explain.

The boys finished the sentence for her.

"Corny?" tried Lash.

"Stupid?" Speed offered.

"Always playing by the rules?" continued Lash. "Never having any fun?"

Ignoring their sarcasm, Fi just nodded in agreement. "It _**can**_ be done. Besides, despite how you guys let everyone see you, I know that world domination isn't your thing. You're not evil."

The guys shared another guilty look between them before Speed replied reluctantly. "Maybe not world domination, but a little power would be nice."

"That's what I thought. What about Penny?" asked Fi, needing to make sure Penny wasn't just misguided too. She'd never spent time with the girl so Fiona couldn't be sure about her intentions like she was with Lash and Speed.

Speed snorted. "Oh no, she's definitely evil. She's actually worse then Gwen - you should've seen the plan Penny wanted to do instead of Gwen's."

"Yeah, she wanted to pour rat poison into all the cafeteria food," Lash said.

Fiona cocked her head slightly in thought. "What about everyone who brings their own lunch?"

"Well, that part of the plan involved a bag of marbles and a monkey on skates."

At his words Fi looked at Lash in disbelief, but he just smirked and nodded back at her as if saying 'Yeah, it's true'.

It was Speed who responded verbally though. "He's serious. The girl's demented."

"How did you get in here like this anyway? They even took our cuffs off - aren't they scared we'll attack you? Even without our powers we're still bigger then you," Lash stated suddenly, as if the whole situation just now hit him. Which it probably did.

Fiona grinned mysteriously. "My family has connections."

"Being Pyro's daughter you should have even more restriction in here than most," Speed said, a hint of worry in voice.

His worry, while appreciated, was unfounded. They did keep the real 'hardened' older criminals in this building, but Pyro wasn't here. He was in jail over in Australia, last she'd heard. And the rest of the Brotherhood was in lock-up in Bayville. There was also the fact that her father (let alone any of his friends orenemies, aside from the X-Men) didn't know she existed, so there was nothing to worry about.

"That's not the side of my family I'm talking about," she replied.

Lash perked up in interest. "Your mom's a super too? You never said anything."

"Yeah, who is she? Wonder Woman?"

Fi shook her head at Speed with a faint smile. "She's not a mutant. All this clout is actually thanks to my grandfather."

Speed raised an eyebrow. "Who's he?"

Fiona took a deep breath, hoping that what she was about to do wasn't a stupid thing. After all the re-assuring she'd done to her mother, and all the strings she had to pull to get this thing going, it would be a disaster if the boys refused.

"Abraham Van Helsing," she finally said.

Both of their eyes widened. "Your great-great-grandfather is Van Helsing? Cool!" Speed exclaimed.

"No... my_ grandfather _is Van Helsing," she corrected, watching the boys do the math in their heads.

Lash leaned forward, placing his arms on the table. "He couldn't be your grandfather; he lived too long ago."

Fi smiled meekly at them, praying that this ended well. "And therein lies the opening for the long dramatic story that is my family history. Followed by an offer that I hope you won't refuse."

Lash and Speed agreed; Fiona wasn't sure if she should be happy or worried over this. But they deserved a chance, and she was going to give it to them. Besides, what's the worst that could happen... hey, wait a minute! What the heck?

Those jerks didn't even wait for her!

How rude. She expected this out of the others, but she thought that Layla, of all people, would wait for her.

With that thought in mind, Fiona stomped her way over to the table where Layla, Warren, Will, Sara, Ethan and Zach currently sat in the food court of the Maxville Mall - all with empty food trays in front of them.

If Fiona actually relied on human food to sustain her instead of blood, she might have been a little more irritated at missing dinner. Dinner that she'd planned on eating with them. It's not her fault she was late! The meeting with Lash and Speed had taken longer then she thought it would.

Warren was the first to spot her headed their way, giving her a half smile when she reached them. "Welcome back."

The verbal beating Fi was about to unleash on her unsuspecting friends was sent straight to the back burner, only to be replaced by confusion.

"Huh?" questioned Fiona, pausing right behind Layla's chair.

Warren motioned to her hair and then it clicked in Fi's head; she was now back to her natural hair color, thanks to Jake who felt like playing hair-dresser last night. At Warrens greeting the others turned to take a look.

"Yo, nice locks Fi!" Zach complemented enthusiastically. The others smiled and agreed with him.

Damn them. Now there was no way she could yell at them for forgetting her, not after they all praised her. Pouting slightly Fi sat in the empty chair next to Layla and across from Warren. Sara, who was sitting on Warrens right, shifted a little in her seat to face Fiona better.

"So, how did your visit go?" she asked.

"Yeah, what did the losers have to say?" Zach added from his seat on Warrens left. Everyone else turned their attention to the young vampire, awaiting her answer.

Fi eyed Zach with narrow eyes and a sarcastic smirk. "They send their love."

Sara gave Fiona a sympathetic look, reaching across the table she squeezed her hand comfortingly. "I think it's great that you decided to keep in touch with them. You're a good friend Fi," she said before pulling her hand back, smiling sincerely.

See? It was hard to hate the girl. She's too much like Layla.

"Thanks," Fi muttered, unsure what to say. The others, seeing that she was now uncomfortable, decided to go back to their own conversations.

A familiar feeling settled over Fi, causing her eyes to turn towards Warren, meeting his gaze steadily and calmly. Both of his arms are crossed on the table while he leaned on them, with hair hanging in his face as usual, making his eyes barley visible. To anyone else this pose might be considered threatening. Two weeks ago Fiona would have thought the same thing. Now she knew that he wasn't trying to scare her, though. For Warren these broody looks didn't mean he was mad or anything, it's simply the way he looks.

Now that she has spent more time with him, Fi was beginning to understand him and his moods a lot better. At the moment he's trying to figure out whether or not her visit with Lash and Speed made her feel bad. His own father being in jail was probably what made him more aware of her feelings on the situation than any of the others. After all, none of them had any family or friends that the rest of the world considered to be evil. Or _was_ evil for that matter.

Apparently finding what he was searching for, Warren finally relaxed his pose a bit, nodding slightly, letting her know that he understood she was fine. If Fiona had taken a moment to think about it, she would have realized that they were basically talking through body language. Which was just weird. It was also something that most people could only pull off if they've known one another for a very long time.

"Hey," Fi said suddenly, just now noticing that a few of their little group missing, "where's Jake and Magenta?"

"Oh, Magenta talked him into getting a tattoo," Sara replied, turning away from her conversation with Ethan.

Fi stared at the girl blankly for a minute.

And another minute.

And another.

Another.

And then...

Another.

And just one more (for good measure) before it all registered. Fiona let out a loud bark of laughter and hopped out of her chair eagerly.

"Which shop?" she demanded quickly, hoping she hadn't missed it. Oh man, this was gonna be great! Jake is totally afraid of needles! Oh, and Aunt Jenny is going to _**kill **_him!

"The one on the second floor. It's the first shop on the right off the escalators," Layla responded shaking her head in amusement, all to aware of the thoughts running through Fiona's mind.

The words barley left the redheads mouth before Fiona rushed out of the food court. Running through the halls Fi dodged other shoppers and narrowly avoided crashing into a small cookie stand before reaching the escalators. Bounding impatiently up the moving steps that weren't moving fast enough on their own for her, Fi pushed a boy who looked maybe a year or two older than herself out of the way. Yelling an apology over her shoulder she continued on her way, skidding to halt just outside the tattoo shop.

Much to Fiona's own sadistic glee, the area reeked of fear. Fear laced with the scent of someone she knew well. Jake.

Giddily she entered the shop spotting her friend instantly. Jake was sitting on a black leather and steel chair in what looked to be a small waiting area of the shop. A large book was laying in his lap, and both feet were tapping nervously on the ground. Looking further into the small shop Fi saw that Magenta was in the middle of getting her belly-button pierced.

Ouch.

Moving to sit across from Jake, Fiona laughed at the look that crossed his face as he realized she was there.

"Don't say a word," he warned... although the small shake in his voice took whatever threat he'd intended out of it.

"So, going for the bad-boy look huh? What's it gonna be, a _fairy_?"

"Funny."

Fiona blinked innocently at him."No, accurate. Tattoos should represent the person they're on."

Jake hissed in irritation at her. Yes, an actual hiss.

"I caught the joke, Fi."

"Hey, is there such a thing as a glitter tattoo? That would be perfect!"

"I'm thinking more of fire and skulls."

"Oh please, be serious. How about "My Little Pony" - you love those!"

"Skull," he repeated firmly, teeth starting to grind in annoyance and fear.

"Where will you put it? Shoulders would be nice."

"Shut up."

"Ooooh, tramp stamp!"

"I will kill you."

"Can't get it too big, so you're mom won't see it. Wouldn't want her to_ kill you_."

"Fiona, stop."

"But then again, if you have to get a small one they'll have to use even sharper needles. You know, for better detail."

His eyes widened. "Come on," he pleaded, voice cracking in fear.

"Ignore her," a deep voice said from behind her. Fi turned her head sharply and glared at Warren, who apparently decided to follow her up here.

"She's just scaring you, the needle is the same size."

Fiona then did something that she wouldn't have dared to do two weeks ago.

_**WACK!**_

"How would you know?" she demanded glaring up at her fellow pyro.

Warren sat down next her, rubbing his now sore arm, which thanks to wearing a muscle shirt left his arms bare and defenseless to her assault. "Because I've gotten a couple before," he said.

Pulling back his leather wrist bands he showed them both his flame tattoo's. Jake leaned forward to get a better look.

"Did it hurt?" he asked as the pyro pulled his bands back into place. Warren shrugged. "Depends on your tolerance for pain."

Jake gave a sound that sounded suspiciously like a whimper at that response, while Fiona smiled brightly. Had anyone looked closely enough, they would have seen that her eyes dilated slightly.

"Did you decide yet?" asked a tall guy, with green spiked hair and piercing's all over his face, walking over to stand in front of them. The guy must have recognized Warren because they both gave a small nod and 'hey' to each other.

"You back for more?" the guy asked. Warren shook his head negatively in response. "Not today."

"That's cool. What about you? I'm Tony by the way," the guy said to Fi.

"I'm just here for support," she replied motioning happily towards Jake.

Tony nodded and looked back to Jake. "Well? You know you don't have to get a pre-made set, we can do originals," he said referring to the book that Jake was clasping tightly in his hands. Fiona now realized that the book was a picture book - she snatched the book from Jake's grip, ignoring his protests.

Quickly opening it she let herself get lost in all the pictures, only barley registering when Jake got up and (very slowly) made his way towards the other side of the shop to get started.

Spotting one of a small vampire bat Fiona let out a disappointed sigh. There was no way her mom would let her get one ( "There is no way I'm going to let you deface your body young lady!"), and neither would her healing power. It would just reject the ink... wait a tick.

Lifting her head slowly, Fiona turned slightly in her seat to face Warren, who was watching her flip through the book silently, and grabbed his right arm. So intent on her quest she didn't notice his sharp intake of breath when their skin touched. Nor did she see his breathing become shallow when she pulled his arm against her stomach, just under her chest, to get a good look at his wrist. Pulling the wrist band off him she studied his tattoo in confusion.

"How?" she asked running her fingers over it lightly. At her touch his eyes darkened, though she didn't see it. She did however catch the sight of his pulse throbbing just under his skin. Fi's eyes narrowed at the sight, her vision zooming in on the vein in his wrist.

She hasn't eaten anything all day...

Slowly she brought his wrist towards her mouth, quickly becoming overcome with the need to take a bite, fangs extending. As the tip of her fangs touched his skin, a loud voice screamed in her head.

_"__**Stop!**__"_

Eyes widening at Dracula's command she quickly pulled herself up straight, throwing Warrens arm away from her as if she'd been burnt.

Oh God, she almost bit him! If Dracula hadn't interfered she would have done it.

Why didn't Warren stop her? He didn't even fight it and he knows what she is. He had to have known what she'd intended to do when her fangs came out.

Panting heavily from her panic she looked up and met Warrens eyes, and lost her breath at the sight. His eyes were completely black, not his natural dark brown, oh no, they were black. Definitely black. They look exactly as they did that time during their little encounter in the rubble during his fight in the cafeteria with Will.

His aura was also spinning out of control, it was pulsing with a weird reddish/black/white spiral design.

Shaking her head quickly she pulled her fangs back in, letting her vision go back to normal so she could no longer see the dizzying display.

"Why didn't you pull away?" she asked, her voice barley a whisper. Breathing shallow, Warren leaned in close to her, making their foreheads touch, both of their hair sheltering them from prying eyes. Or at least their faces anyway.

"Whoa there lovebirds! Might wanna cool it before Sara or someone comes in," Magenta's voice suddenly spoke up, causing them both to jump at the sound.

Fiona watched with a wary interest, and more than a little disappointment, as Warren quickly let her go (she wasn't sure exactly when his arms had slipped around her waist, but apparently they had) and put some distance between them, never once looking back at her.

* * *

It was 7:00pm and Fiona was currently in her room laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. The white ceiling. She was seriously getting sick of that color.

The whole gang would be coming over pretty soon for a 'movie night'. Three guesses as to who this idea came from... and the first two don't count.

Poor little Layla. The girl obviously has issue's about being an only child; she is so desperate to keep everyone close. And her idea of such a thing involved lots of 'group activities'. Not that Fiona really minded, it was nice having them around.

There was only one problem about tonight though. After their trip to the mall today (in which Jake decided to get a tattoo, then chickened out at the last minute), Fi really didn't feel like facing Warren again so soon. What the heck he had been thinking was beyond her. He knows she's a vampire, so why the hell didn't he pull back? The boy must have a death wish. After the incident in the tattoo shop he'd hightailed it out of the mall, taking Sara with him.

Fi didn't know what was more irritating about it all: Warrens actions, or the constant 'I know something you don't know' looks Magenta kept giving her after interrupting them.

"FI! THE GUYS ARE HERE!" Jake yelled from downstairs.

Sighing heavily Fi pulled herself off her bed tiredly. This was gonna be a long night.

"Geez Fi, it wasn't that funny... it wasn't even meant to be funny," Will said from his spot beside Layla on the love-seat across the room.

Fi, sitting on the floor in front of the couch, between Jake's legs, was laughing hysterically. Though the movie had just ended, it hadn't been on a funny scene. Well, not funny to anyone besides Fiona, aparently.

Everyone watched her try to catch her breath with bemusement clouding their faces, unsure just what the heck was so funny. Layla, Jake and Warren thought they had a small idea, but even if they were right, it still wasn't _that_ funny.

There was, however, one person in the room (technically) who understood. Although he was completely disagreeing with her amusement because it was actually directed at him.

"_I am not, nor was I ever, that dramatic,"_ Dracula defended himself heatedly.

_"Oh trust me, I can __**so**__ see you being that bad – but I'm sure that the actor portraying you did it all a little less gayish,"_ she managed to reply to him mentally. Verbally though, she was unable to respond to the others in room.

At first Fiona thought that this was going to be a boring night. Oh, how wrong she'd been.

Layla rented the movie 'Van Helsing'.

It was supposed to be a small, but silent, joke at Fiona. It turned out to be far better than that though. At first Fi, and Jake, were shocked to notice that the guy playing Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) looked exactly like Logan. They both shared a few laughs over that at first, but after Dracula made his first real appearance on the screen, Fiona had been reduced to giggles ever since.

The others in room had taken to making comments about Dracula throughout the movie, none of them being aware that the man in question was listening in. All that bundled with the way the movie portrayed him left Fiona unable to form a coherent sentence.

"_Less gayish? Are trying to say something, my dear?" _came Dracula's reply, his voice in a low hiss. Oh man, he was taking this all to heart. Maybe she shouldn't piss him off...

"_There wasn't much __**trying**__ to it. And I'm just a little curious now, was the sexual tension really that bad between you and gramps?" _

Silence followed her retort. Uh-oh. Oh come on, he has to know she's just yanking his chain...

_"I see," _he growled lightly, his tone sending a chill down her spine. "_Well then, I shall take my leave for now. Sweet __**dreams**__ Fiona."_

After that he completely blocked himself from her. Well, crap. There was no doubt she was in for a little dream visit tonight.

"Jay!" Fi said suddenly, breaking through her laughing fit so quickly it made the others, except Jake, jump in surprise.

"Yeah?" Jake asked looking down at her, not really fazed by her craziness.

"Do we have any coffee in the house?"

"Yeah, right by the espresso machine," he said sarcastically. "We don't drink that crap remember? Why do you want it for anyway?"

"I feel like staying up tonight, caffeine is supposed to help with that right?"

"Why do you want to stay up?" Sara asked curiously from her spot on the floor beside her, between Warrens legs.

"I have a feeling I'm not gonna be having pleasant dreams after this movie," Fi replied, being as honest as possible.

"I have some Jolt at my house, way better for that then coffee." Magenta chimed in from across the room, sitting in the black leather arm chair that matched the couches.

Quickly debating how close Magenta lived, Fi nodded to herself and hopped up off the floor. "Okie dokie, we're going to Magenta's."

Magenta nodded and stood up to, pausing (okay, jumping actually) when Sara gave a loud squeak, quickly getting up from the floor. "Oooh! We can have a sleep-over!"

Layla smiled at the suggestion and got up enthusiastically, agreeing with the bubbly blonde. Fi bit her lip thoughtfully not really caring either way, while Magenta gave a horrified look at them. Layla and Sara both already decided, and everyone knew that it would be pointless for Magenta to try objecting now.

"Sweet yo! I gotta run home and get my sleeping bag-"

"No boys." Magenta interrupted firmly. It was bad enough she'd been pulled into this situation, but there was no way she was letting it get worse.

Thankfully Layla and Sara agreed.

"Yeah, sorry guys, but no way. It's gonna be a girls night," the redhead said.

Will and Zach seemed to be the only ones bummed by this fact though, as Warren and Ethan looked relived. Jake on the hand...

"Hey, what about me?" he asked, giving them a small pout.

Sara and Magenta shook their head 'no', while Layla and Fi grinned in amusement. During all their time together no one had yet figured out that Jake was gay. And Fiona played it up every chance she got.

"Jake should come. If the Jolt doesn't keep me up all night, I know Jay will," Fi said, trying not to laugh.

"Oh yeah," Layla agreed. "It wouldn't been fun at all without Jay."

Warren, Will, and Zach all glared at Jake, who just smiled innocently at the girls. Ethan still didn't care though, as he was the only guy in room without a girl he held a 'claim' on. As the other boys had their attention on Jake, Layla and Fi quickly gave Magenta and Sara a 'just go with it' look. Ethan watched both groups with interest, wondering where this was going... by the looks the guys were giving, it could get ugly.

"Well, if you think so," Magenta finally said, eyeing Jake curiously.

Sara nodded. "Sure."

At that the room erupted into protest from the other boys. There was _**no way **_that they were going to be left out when Jake wasn't.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Warren, Zach, and Will had been kicked out of the house... which proved to be a little more difficult then Fiona predicted it would be.

Thankfully Ethan went without a fight, but the others refused. Stifling a giggle Fiona turned off the water in the shower, pulled back the white shower curtain and stepped out of the tub into the steam filled room. Wrapping a fluffy pink towel around her, she went over to the window and peeked out the shades, looking down on the front lawn she laughed at the sight below.

Holding the towel firmly around her with her left hand, she opened the window with the other. "Hey! How's it going?" she called down to the two figures below, standing by a large glowing block of ice.

"Very funny! You know Zach could suffer brain damage or something in there!" Will yelled back, voice laced more with irritation than worry.

Fi snorted. "Yeah right. This could actually be healthy for boy. Might knock some sense into him."

"Are you calling Zach stupid? Because he's not dumb, he's just... okay, actually, you might be right," Will amended thoughtfully, turning back to the ice block that his platinum haired friend was trapped in.

The other figure on the lawn shook his head, now knowing without a doubt that he was surrounded by idiots. Before these people came along he definitely would never be spending his nights thawing out a human lighting bug that his own girlfriend attacked - which was after she'd frozen _him _as well. He'd also been stuck thawing out Will.

These people would be lost without him. He was afraid to think of what would happen when they all graduated and had to fend for themselves. There was no way in hell that he was going to do a Justice League thing. They were on their own.

Warren sighed tiredly, wishing he was at home playing poker with Toby. Now a little rested from his efforts of thawing out himself and Will, he lit up his arms and started to help Zach.

Then something clicked in his mind.

Warren spun back around and looked up at Fiona in the window, scanning over her body (what was showing anyway) quickly. Fighting back a groan as he realized she was wearing nothing but a towel, her dark hair clinging to her, wet skin shimmering in the light. Catching the smell of her strawberry shampoo as a small breeze wafted through the area, Warren inhaled deeply. It would be so easy for him just to break down that front door, head upstairs and...

"**OW! WARREN**! Watch where your aiming!" Will screamed, dodging a huge wave of fire that flew off of the pyro.

Realizing that Warren was ogling her, Fiona hastily slammed the window shut and closed the shades, blushing furiously she started getting dressed.

Now fully dressed in her pajama's (which was nothing more than a pair of old worn and torn baggy jeans, along with a white wife-beater) Fiona made her way downstairs towards the kitchen. Moving to sit at the table, she watched as Jake hurried around the room gathering snacks.

It was decided that the sleep-over would be held at their house instead of Magenta's, simply because they wasted all their efforts kicking out the boys who had threatened to stay outside and follow them to Magenta's anyway. Which resulted in Sara freezing all three of them on the lawn.

"Did you waste all the hot?" Jake asked, referring to the hot water, as he poured some Skittles into a bowel.

"Do you really have to ask?" Fi countered. Jake rolled his eyes but decided not to comment.

"Where's the girls?" she asked, changing the subject.

"In the front room, waiting for their snacks... you know, if I'd known I was just going to be the waiter for this little party I would have been against it."

Snickering Fiona got up to help him gather everything. "Why does it smell like something's burning?"

Jake struggled to lift a heavy tray filled with bowels of popcorn, candy, and some soda cans. "They lit some candles."

Taking the tray easily from him Fi frowned. "Why did they light candles?"

"Well, you can't play the Ouija board without lighting candles. It just wouldn't be the same."

Eyes widening Fiona dropped the tray. "You let them play with that thing? Where did they get it?" she yelled over the loud clatter of the tray and it's contents hitting the floor.

"Calm down! I had one in my room. It's just a game Fi, chill." he assured her, bending to begin cleaning the mess. Fiona didn't help him though, instead she muttered a faint 'idiot' before dashing out of the kitchen.

Jake was always the one teasing her about not paying attention to what they learned in school at the Order, and then he goes and buys a freaking Weegie board? One of the first things they teach is _not_ to mess with the damn things. That is, unless, you actually _want _to invite a demon into your house.

Entering the front room she saw Sara and Magenta sitting across from one another on the floor with the coffee table between them. The board and candles laid on the table, while Layla sat on Magenta's left with a pad of paper and a pen, scribbling something down.

The three girls stopped when they spotted Fi in the threshold. "Fi, you're never going to believe this! We got ahold of someone named Lilly, she's-"

Fiona interrupted Sara's excited speech in dull tone. "Let me guess, she's really nice and friendly. Extremely helpful and far more accurate than your horoscopes could ever hope to be?"

Sara's smile slowly fell from her face, "Well, uh, yeah."

"They're all the same; it's a trick. Get rid of it."

"But -" Sara began to protest only to be interrupted yet again. This time by Magenta. "Uh, guys look," she said, her voice quivering.

All eyes turned to the board, the planchette (the plastic triangular piece used to spell out words) began moving on it's own across the board. When it was done Layla looked up from her paper, on which she'd been writing everything down, her eyes showing a small tinge of fear.

"It s-says: 'Hello Helsing. Nice to finally meet you'."

As Magenta and Sara quickly scrambled away from the board, Fiona moved closer. Kneeling next to Layla (who was too scared to move at all) she regarded the board silently. She knew she shouldn't encourage the spirit, but she was curious nonetheless.

"How do you know me?"

As it moved again Sara shrieked and darted out the front door, Magenta moved to go get Jake and Layla shifted to move slightly behind Fi.

Both remaining girls watched as it spelled out it's answer:

**Your name is becoming well known among my kind**

Fi raised an eyebrow. "Your kind, wanna be more specific?"

**You'll figure it out**

There is definitely something wrong here. Fi could sense no presence at all in the room, which means this thing has one heck of cloaking power. Whatever this is, it's not the usual lower level demon/spirit that are common among these boards. This thing is powerful.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

**Fiona Lucille Helsing**

"That's my name."

**Soon it will be mine. I like you far better than Judas**

Fiona was about to retort but Warren suddenly darted in front of her, and proceeded to set the board on fire.

"What the hell are you doing?" she exclaimed in surprise, just now noticing that everyone (including Zach - his hair still lightly frosted) was now in the room.

Waving his hand over the flames they disappeared, leaving nothing but ash behind (and a singed table top). "Doing you a favor. Didn't anyone ever tell you those things are bad?" he asked, turning around to glare at her.

"Whoa that was so cool! Did you all see it move on it's own?" Zach asked excitedly. Everyone ignored him.

"What was it saying?" Magenta asked, having been (like the others, aside from Layla) too far away to read it.

"Helsing. Your name's Helsing," Sara said suddenly, just now remembering what the board wrote the first time before she'd ran out screaming (after which she found the boys still in the yard, and ran right to Warren still squealing in fear).

"What? Yo' what are you talking 'bout? Her name's _Fiona_."

Once again, everyone ignored Zach.

Fi was staring at the charred remains of the board, trying to block everyone out, her mind racing in thought over what just happened. As everyone around her chattered on (Jake trying to think of a good excuse for her name, and Layla helping him) Fiona tried her best to figure out what the demon was talking about. What did it mean it liked her better than Judas? That didn't make any sense...

"Sara," Fi said, causing everyone to stop mid-sentence (as they'd all been talking at the same time) and looked at her in surprise.

"Yeah?"

"What did it say it's name was when you were talking with it?"

"Lilly, why?"

Fi's heart literally felt like it stopped. Gasping in shock she almost fell as her knee's buckled, luckily Warren caught her.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, moving to help her sit on the couch.

Through the haze that was filling her mind, she barely heard her cellphone start ringing. There was nothing to break a tense paranormal situation like the loud sound of the Barbie Girl song.

She really needs to change that ringtone.

Reaching into her pocket she pulled out her cell, seeing the name 'Remy' on the screen she quickly got up, brushing past everyone to go upstairs for privacy. Fiona stopped when she was halfway up the stairs, but didn't turn back to face them.

"Jake, go set up some cleansing spells, we need to make sure that the demon's gone from the house. After that, cast some barrier spells to keep anything else out," she instructed.

Jake nodded slowly. "Alright. But what's going on? What did that thing say?"

"After that," she continued, ignoring his question, "tell them everything."

Jake blinked. "_Everything_?"

"_**Everything**_. That demon knows they're associated with us, we can't risk something going after them just to get us."

"What's going on?" Jake asked seriously, knowing that something big had happened if Fi was willing to tell everyone who, and what, she really is.

Fiona took a shaky breath and turned to look over her shoulder at him. "That things name isn't Lilly. That was just a nickname – or it mocking us, to see how smart we are," she said, eyeing her friend seriously.

Jake seemed to understand what she meant instantly, as he let out a small "Oh hell!" before losing his own footing from shock, much like Fi did just moments before. Difference was, no one was close enough (or willing) to catch him like Warren had Fiona. Jake crashed to the couch breathing heavily from panic.

"This isn't good," he muttered.

"Of course the ghosts name was Lilly. What else would it be? It had no reason to lie," Sara said, completely lost over this whole situation. She wasn't alone. Everyone other than Jake, Fi and Layla understood what was going on.

Layla finally stood up from her spot on floor, eyeing Fiona warily. "You mean that thing was _her_?"

"Who?" Sara cried in agitation. This wasn't making any sense!

Fiona nodded to the redhead, ignoring Sara. "Yeah. That thing wasn't any _ghost. _That was Lilith."


	9. Chapter 8: Know The Enemy

**Disclaimer:  
Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

**_Chapter Eight: _Know The Enemy**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

"This is unbelievable. I mean seriously, it's like a poorly written horror novel. You know, one of those self-published ones that no real publisher would touch. Or maybe they would because they could get really good editors to fix it... but then it gets made into a movie. So naturally, like all books-to-movie deals, it gets turned back into crap. It then goes on to win a Razzie -"

"Fi," Remy interrupted gently, trying to calm her, "y' babblin'. Panickin' will get y' nowhere."

Fiona sighed heavily, leaning back to lay on her bed and taking a deep breath before pulling her cell back to her ear. "Okay, okay, you're right. You're not gonna tell anyone about this are you?"

It was his turn to sigh. "Remy knows he said dat he'd keep dis quiet, but it be bigger den he thought. He had no choice but t' tell Xavier," said Gambit guiltily. Though he knew it was right to do in this case, he still didn't like breaking his word to anyone.

Fiona cringed at his reply. "What did he say?"

"He said t' let y' decide de next move. De old man really trusts y'r judgment. Seems he forgot who y'r pere is."

To tired to open up her mental 'Remy to English' dictionary, she just asked straight out. "What's that mean?"

"Insanity is genetic."

Ah, right, 'pere' means 'father'. She rolled her eyes. "Thanks Rem, good to know you believe in me."

"Remy jus' playin' wit y' petite."

Fi rubbed her eyes tiredly, glancing at the clock on her computer desk across the room she saw that it was 1:30am.

"I'll call you back later and we'll go from there... I have a few things I need to do first."

"Y'r not plannin' on goin' 'round dis boy are y'? Cause Remy don t'ink dat be a good idea," Remy replied in concern.

"He's not dangerous Remy, at least not to me," she defended smoothly, glad that Remy's empathy power didn't work over such long distances, or else he'd be able to feel her uncertainty despite her words.

"He could jus' be lurin' y' in Fi; gainin' y'r trust," he warned.

"I'll talk to you later," she said, flipping her phone closed.

Fiona hates being rude, but she hates lying even more, and until she had a chat with Warren she really couldn't keep defending him. She had known something was up with him, but this was definitely the last thing she'd expected.

The smell of incense caught her attention, alerting her that Jake's working on the protection and cleansing spells she instructed him to cast before coming upstairs. The gang (minus Ethan) is still currently downstairs, probably freaking out about everything. At least they should be.

Fi had been upstairs long enough for Jake to fully fill them in about her.

Magenta and Zach would be shocked, but Fi knew they'd probably get over it quickly; Zach's too much of a scatter-brain, and Magenta is far too laid-back to mind very much. Obviously Layla was nothing to worry about, and since Will is so close to the redhead, Fi has a sneaking suspicion that he already knows more then he lets on.

Sara... well, that one might take a while. She (despite being a powerful mutant) was easily frightened.

Then there's Warren. Wonder how he was taking the news? He must be _sooooo _shocked. A sarcastic smirk crossed her face as she sat up and quickly pulled on her boots and a light track jacket. Moving across her bedroom she knelt down next large plain wooden chest, opened the heavy lid and slipped out a small necklace. With jerky irritated movements she shoved the necklace and her cell into her pocket and yanked open her bedroom door, stomping down the stairs.

Jake, having been sitting on the bottom step waiting on her, was the first to notice her return. "Who was on the phone?" he asked craning his neck to look up at her instead of just standing up.

Jumping neatly over Jake, Fiona headed towards the front door, ignoring him.

"Warren can you come with me?" she called over her shoulder, never once looking back or breaking her stride. She didn't even bother to see if he was following and continued straight out the door.

By the time she reached the street she heard him fall into step behind her. "Where are we going?"

Fiona kept her gaze straight ahead. "Just a little further, there's a park up ahead," she replied, trying to keep her annoyance from showing. Apparently Warren could sense that talking wasn't something she wanted to do just yet, so he kept his questions to himself.

About five minutes later it became clear that 'just a little further' was a lie. There _is_ a park, but it's actually three blocks or so away. His patience to keep quiet actually surprised her.

When they finally reached their destination Fiona headed to the first bench she saw and sat down, lightly patting the wooden seat beside her, making eye contact with him for the first time.

"Sit."

Slowly sitting down beside her Warren furrowed his brow. "What's this about?"

"How did the others take the whole vamp thing?" she asked, ignoring his question and turning her face away to look out over the small park.

"Zach thinks it's cool, Will didn't seem surprised, Magenta was a little freaked but she seemed to be getting over it, and Sara... well, she's slowly dealing with it."

Fiona couldn't stop the small grin that appeared on her face as she realized she predicted everyone's reactions correctly.

"Maybe now she wont be so clingy with me," she replied, referring to Sara.

Warren snorted, and while Fi didn't look, she was positive he rolled his eyes. "Wish I had a trick like that up my sleeve."

"Don't you?" Fi countered lightly, and then continued on before he could reply. "I've got a problem Warren. A big problem."

"What's wrong?"

"It's you," she stated calmly.

"Me?" he asked slowly.

She nodded, still looking straight ahead and not at him. "For a long time now I've had this feeling about you... but I couldn't place it. At first I thought it was just because I was scared of you on some level; you pull that bully thing off nicely."

"I've never bullied you," he stated firmly, sounding a little insulted.

"In my mind you did. The way I saw it, you didn't like me. But after that one day in the cafeteria I realized that hating me was definitely not on your list. So then I came to the conclusion that you're just bipolar or something. "

"Bipolar?" he questioned, and once again she didn't look, but she practically heard his eyebrow raise.

"All the mood swings," she explained. "There's several other things that's crossed my mind when it comes to explaining you, but I don't feel like going into all that. What I really need to know now is if I can trust you."

"You can trust me," came his instant reply.

"Why didn't you pull away? I would have bit you, you had to know that," she said, referring to the incident at the mall. Warren finally turned away from her, facing straight ahead as she was.

"I did. I just couldn't make myself pull away," he answered honestly.

Feeling her anger start to rise at his answer she slipped her hand into her jacket pocket, gripping the small necklace.

"So you would have willingly screwed me over?" she asked, her voice coming out more as a growl than anything else.

Warrens head whipped back towards hers. "Wha -?"

"Catch," she said, interrupting him. Quickly pulling out the necklace she tossed it at him. Warren caught it automatically, out of reflex.

The instant that the small amulet on the golden chain touched his bare skin, Warren hissed in pain as it scorched his hand.

"Shit! What was that?" he yelled cradling his injured hand after quickly dropping the necklace. Fiona finally turned to face him, her face unreadable.

"When Lilith fled the Garden of Eden, God sent three angels after her: Sansenoy, Senoy, and Semangelof. Lilith, in a bid for freedom, agreed to never harm anyone bearing an amulet inscribed with the names, or forms, of those three. The result of one of her offspring touching it would have the same burning effect as a cross does to a vampire. Though you probably already knew all that."

Warrens heartbeat started to pick up. "I don't know wha-"

"The hell you don't! I had a background check done on you - I never thought it would turn up like this though. You sent my little detective on one heck of a hunt. Your mothers family has been very good at hiding it's real name. You're a descendant of Hakan Aurelius... you're a pure-blood werewolf," Fiona said, trying to keep herself in check. The last thing she needed right now is to lose control and attack him.

Taking a deep breath, she continued. "After all this time since her entrapment, Lilith is finally trying to get out. Somehow her plan involves Dracula's remains... something she has to get through _my _family to get. And by some strange coincidence one of her descendants is living in the same town as me? Going to my school? Becoming a part of my life?"

"It's not what you think. I have nothing to do with all that. Besides, I've been living in this town all my life; you haven't!" Warren defended.

"Then why would you let me drink from you?" she snapped.

Everyone knows that the effects of a vampire drinking from a werewolf will drive the vampire insane. Both creatures' blood is tainted; both hold a way to spread their curse, and both blood types in one body can cause one hell of a battle for dominance. None have ever survived it. The internal battle between the demonic magic was too much.

Warren hung his head slightly. "I wasn't trying to hurt you."

"Then what the hell was you trying to do?"

"I wouldn't have let you take enough to hurt yourself... I just wanted ... I though that maybe I could... dammit! I'm such a idiot," he muttered, more to himself than her.

"Not gonna disagree with you there. But I'd still like an answer. A good one."

Warren sighed. "I can't give you one."

"Then I can't assume that you're not against me."

"Just because I'm related to Lilith doesn't make me evil. You of all people should understand that."

Fi nodded. "You're right, being part of Dracula taught me that a long time ago. So I'm not judging you based on Lilith's actions, or even your dads. I'm going by what I know of_** you;**_ the things_** you've **_done. You're the one who won't give me a good reason to trust you."

Warren sprung off the bench and stomped away from her a, clearly needing to put some distance between them before one of them decided to snap. Which is something both are very close to doing.

"No reason to trust me? If I was out to get you, don't you think I would have attacked you by now?" he asked incredulously.

"How the hell do I know you haven't? For all I know, that was you who attacked me and Layla before homecoming! And then when that didn't work you decided on a different plan; like what happened today. Everything is stacking against you Warren!"

Warren, who had started pacing, paused mid-step. "You were attacked - so that's what that was," he said thoughtfully.

"What_ what _was?"

He shook his head. "Nothing," he dismissed, resuming his pacing.

"Oh come on! You're not helping yourself here," she accused, jumping off the bench and striding over to stand in his path, forcing him to stop.

"You know what? Screw this! I don't have to prove myself to you," he growled lowly, eyes starting to turn black as she came closer to him.

"All I want is to hear the truth! I don't care what it is... I want to believe you're not out to get me. The only way that can happen is if you tell me the truth."

Warren closed his eyes and moved backwards away from her. "I-I can't. It will change things too much. I don't think I can handle the consequences."

Fiona didn't feel mad; she felt pissed. As her fangs extended without her consent, she realized she seriously needed to get away from him. Quickly.

"Have it your way," she hissed. Moving around him she started to walk away but stopped when she heard him coming up behind her.

"We're not done here," he growled, grabbing her wrist. Fiona spun around to face him, only to instantly wish she hadn't. Seems Warren is pretty ticked off too. The difference, however, is that he pulls it off much better. Craning her neck to look at his coal black eyes, Fiona realized something that she hadn't before. Well, she had known, but only now was it really sinking in. He was a pure-blood werewolf. There's no way she can win this fight alone.

The anger that had been flowing through her body was quickly replaced by fear. She needed to get away from him, but his grip was way too tight on her wrist. Had she been human it probably would have snapped.

About to (uselessly) demand he let go, Fiona suddenly stopped. Her whole body began feeling very light and tingly... looking up at Warren she saw his eyes widen.

"Fi?" he asked, but his voice sounded muffled. The next thing she knew her vision went grayish; it was like she stepped into a black and white movie. Smoke started to swirl around her, and completely freaked out, she thought the same thing anyone would have at this moment... well, the second thing anyone would think about anyway. The first thought would actually be: I want my mommy.

"_I want to go home!"_

The second that thought crossed her mind she felt as if she'd been sucked up by a very large vacuum. Squeezing her eyes shut as the park suddenly surged around her she fought not throw up. And then, just as quickly as it started, it all stopped.

Slowly cracking open one eye Fiona gaped at the sight before her.

"No way!" she cried loudly, moving forward towards her house cautiously. What the hell just happened? As she slowly reached her front door she realized what must have happened; there was no other explanation.

Slinging open the front door and running inside she spotted Jake (and the others) sitting in the front room. "I did the traveling fog thingy!" she said excitedly to Jake.

Jake quirked and eyebrow and started to reply, but was cut off by Sara.

"Where's Warren?"

And there went all Fi's happy thoughts. "He had to go home," she said lightly, her smile fading.

"You d-didn't hurt him did you?"

Fiona rolled her eyes at the blonde girl. "I doubt I could if I tried."

"Dad's on his way, he's bringing a small team with him," Jake cut in.

Fi nodded. "Good."

"Shouldn't Warren be here? I mean this Lilith could go after him too," Layla said in concern. Fiona moved to sit beside Jake on the love seat before answering the redhead sitting across the room on the main couch.

"Lilith is stuck in the astral plan, she can't really go after anyone. The most she can pull off is rattling a few chains."

"Or possession, depends on how strong she is," Jake added nonchalantly causing Fi to elbow him sharply.

"You mean she could takeover one of us?" Sara squeaked out in fear.

"She could, but not for long. Don't worry, as long as we have these protection spells up on the house you'll be fine," Fi assured her calmly.

"But Warren isn't _in_ the house!" Sara ranted, looking like child throwing a tantrum. Complete with a foot stomp.

"Forget about him! He'll be fine," Fiona snapped at the other girl, losing her patience. Patience that was already running thin due to her fight with Warren.

"What do you mean?"

"Just trust me."

Sara gave a small mocking laugh. "Trust you? How do we know we can trust you? Look at what you've been hiding from us! You're a demon!"

If there was one thing Fi hated, it was being called 'demon'. Gritting her teeth she fought not to jump at Sara... of course Jake's hand holding her right knee tightly in his grip helped a little.

"I'm not going to hurt you, if I was don't you think I would have done it by now?" she asked in exasperation.

As soon as the words left her mouth Fiona's mind flew back to her conversation with Warren. Guilt started to creep up in her as she realized he'd said the same thing. Quickly pushing it from her mind, she assured herself that this was different.

"Hey, can you turn into a bat?" Zach asked eagerly, completely out of nowhere. Fi turned to look over at him and gave a tired, yet evil, grin.

"Nope, but I _can_ turn into an impressive pile of rats."

Surprising everyone in the room he gave a small 'Eeep!' before moving to put distance between them. Of course in the process he tripped over the coffee table, promptly knocking himself out on the floor.

Whether he was unconscious from the fall or fright no one was certain.

* * *

A week had passed since the encounter with Lilith, and Fiona (along with the rest of the Order) was now very worried. The Lilin attacks had stopped completely since that night. Obviously it was the calm before the storm, and they didn't have the faintest idea of what the storm would consist of.

In other words: this is really, _**really**_ bad.

The Order placed protection spells on everyone who was present that night, and their homes. They even appointed personal slayers to watch over tall the teens like hawks. The city of Maxville itself was crawling with Order members, all waiting for the next attack. Sky High was also forced to up their security measures as a result.

The only one not under protection was Warren and his family... not that they weren't being watched. They are, just for other reasons.

Fiona had had no choice but to tell Simon what Remy found out, and now the Peace household was under constant surveillance. Even during school hours he was monitored by the slayers on duty. He was being treated like a suspect, which he is, but Fi still felt really bad about it.

Unfortunately, until he gave her a clear and believable answer there was nothing she could do; it was all too big of a risk.

At least that's what she kept telling herself... it didn't help that Dracula agreed with her.

Like she'd predicted though, Layla, Will, Zach, Ethan (who they'd informed of everything later on), and Magenta accepted Fiona's truth easily. Sara on the other hand was still trying to get over it. Of course it probably didn't help her emotional state to learn that her boyfriend was a werewolf - although Sara said that that explained a lot about him.

No one was brave enough to ask her to elaborate on that.

Two days after the incident Warren broke up with her, and then to everyone's surprise (even though 'surprise' is _**definitely**_ not a strong enough word for it), Ethan instantly swooped in on her. At first no one thought anything of it; Ethan is a kind person and Sara was hurting, so naturally everyone assumed he was just being a good friend by sticking by her side and keeping her mind off things... until three days later when Sara proudly (and loudly) announced that they're dating.

Unfortunately it was during lunch and Will, Zach and Magenta had all been taking sips of their drinks at the time, which lead to three simultaneous spit-takes. Fiona choked on her pudding over the announcement, while Layla just sat there in bafflement at the news... and the fact that Zach and Will who'd been sitting across from her completely drenched her with their 'discarded' drinks.

The people at surrounding tables within hearing distance didn't fare much better. The end result was a massive food fight.

She grinned at the memory of Boomer sliding on a puddle of chocolate milk as he and the other teachers tried to stop the fight, someone had even managed to pour cottage cheese on him while he was down. It was obviously someone with telekinetic abilities because the bowl floated over by itself before tipping it's contents on his head.

Every kid in the school was questioned about the incident but no one would claim to it, and Fi knew why. During the whole scene only one person other than herself (while no one was paying attention she'd jumped up to hide in the rafters) had been watching calmly. The perpetrator had stood silently by the main doors with small smirk on his face.

Fiona now held a brand new respect for Mr. Medulla.

"Fi are you even listening to me?" Jake asked in irritation, only taking his eyes off the road to glare at her for a second before turning his attention back driving. Pulling herself from her thoughts she glanced over at him.

"Not really, you're boring," she replied before leaning back to look out the window.

"Hey, if you want me to turn this car around..." he trailed off threateningly.

"No! You promised me a milkshake... besides, no offense to your dad, but he's driving me crazy."

"He's just making sure you're safe."

"And I love him for it, but I think I might kill wind up killing him anyway."

Jake chuckled at her and shook his head slightly, deciding not to respond.

"_You would have my full support," _Dracula chimed in seriously. To say he disliked Simon was beyond an understatement.

"_Am I able to turn into a wolf too? Mom said that you can do that,_" Fiona asked mentally, ignoring his statement.

Dracula sighed tiredly; she'd been nothing but a bundle of questions ever since she'd tapped into his traveling fog power. It was the first time ever that she'd done such a thing, and without his help to boot.

"_It is a possibility, yes. But I think it would take more concentration then you're willing to give_."

"_Hey! I could pull it off - I did the fog!_"

"_True, but you were also in extreme panic. Nothing will give you a power boost quite like fear does, my dear,_" he explained patiently.

"Okay, you want a large, medium, or small?" Jake asked as they pulled into Sonic, interrupting the mental conversation between the two.

Fi turned and gave him a lazy grin. "Why do you even bother asking?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Large it is."

Quickly ordering one large chocolate shake, one medium vanilla shake and a large fry, he slouched down in his seat a little, getting comfortable. Resting his head back against the seat, Jake closed his eyes.

"You know, this whole thing is starting to creep me out," he admitted.

Fiona sighed, nodding her head in agreement. "Yeah, I think we should just skip town. Let the others deal with this," she suggested, only partly joking.

Jake smiled. "Yeah let's head down to California, we'll take surfing lessons."

"Sounds good to me... hey, I hear that Santa Carla has a really cool boardwalk. Maybe we should check that out."

They both laughed lightly at that thought for a minute before Jake opened his eyes and looked over at her thoughtfully.

"Remember the night that the Lilin vamps first attacked you?"

Tilting her head in confusion she thought back to that night. "Yeah, somewhat. Why?"

"You said that they quoted some Bible thing to you, what was it?"

Quickly replying the nights events over her head she was irritated to find that she has no idea what those vamps had been talking about. Thankfully there was a second witness to the night in question.

"_They were quoting from the book of Isaiah:_ '_The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and __the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.'" _Dracula informed her. Fiona fought to keep her jaw from dropping.

"_Wait, you can quote the scriptures that easily? Oh my God! Dracula's a Bible-thumper!_"

_"Not exactly, it's more about knowing the enemy,_" he explained smoothly, quickly stopping her amusement before it could grow.

"_You know_," said Fi, "_you make it very hard to like you when you remind me of the whole 'evil' thing._"

"_You should be reminded. It would not do well for either of us if you expected something from me __that I am unable to give."_

_"Unable, or unwilling?" _she countered.

_"I am what I am Fiona; a demon."_

"_You were human first, it's not the same for you as it is the other vampires," _she argued. It was true; when someone is bitten and then turned, their souls leave the body and a demon enters it.

_"You're still the same person though. Unlike them you still have free will, you're just too bitter to choose the right things." _

She got no reply. Not that she expected one, he hated it when she reminded him of these things. Turning back to Jake, who'd been patiently waiting, she explained the Bible verse to him.

"That's... kind of freaky," he finally said after a moment of thinking it over.

"Yeah, tell me about it - ARGH!"

Jake sat up straight at Fiona's scream, worry quickly taking over him.

"What's wrong?"

Fiona tried to reply but was unable as another wave of pain shot through her head. It felt as if she was being ripped in two. The last thing she heard before everything went black was Dracula roaring out her name in her mind.

* * *

Looking around Fiona could see nothing but a black void around her. The only light was in the small circle she was standing in. The feeling of the place was familiar though, making her aware that she was dreaming.

"Drac?" she called loudly, scanning the shadows with her eyes as she felt someone moving through them.

"He's a little tied up at the moment," came an amused voice behind her. Turning around Fiona spotted an older looking man, one that she had seen many times before in her family photo album.

"Van Helsing," she said in bafflement.

He gave her a tender smile. "I would prefer it if you would call me grandfather."

"What's going on gramps, aren't you... you know, dead?"

"Yes, very much so. I will explain in just a moment, but first I want you to promise me something."

She raised an eyebrow at him but silently decided to just roll with this weirdness. "Okay, shoot."

"When this all over, and if the world doesn't end, promise me that you'll take over the Order."

"Umm, I'm just 15."

"Yes, but you could do no worse than everyone else is at the moment. I love Mary and Simon dearly, but they've proven to be horrible at this. They are so behind on this quest it isn't even funny - and the answer is right under their bloody noses! They search high and low yet the answer is right there in my old files; the _one and only_ place they haven't searched."

"What's the answer?"

Amusement once again flickered over his features. "Do you promise?"

She rolled her eyes. Guess death makes you jolly or something. "Yes I promise."

"Good girl. It's a prophesy called 'The Night'. It was given to me by an old friend when I first began hunting vampires... never understood a word of it, but I felt it was important enough to keep around."

"But you understand it now?" she questioned eagerly.

"Of course I do, my dear. One of the many great perks of death is that all truths are revealed - and before you ask the answer is no; I cannot give you the answer to it. You must find it out on your own."

At his words a muffled growl sounded through the shadows around them. A very pissed off growl. A very pissed off growl that she'd heard many times before.

"Why are you blocking him?" she asked her grandfather when she realized Dracula couldn't leave the shadow area.

"I'm not, Lilith is. She realized your little secret the night you used that blasted board. If you had just refrained from responding to her she wouldn't have been able to see anything. You know very well that to acknowledge a spirit only gives it free reign," he informed her sternly.

She sighed. "I know, I screwed up. How can I unblock him?"

"I haven't the foggiest," he replied with a grin, completely contradicting his own 'all truths revealed' statement earlier. Fiona had a feeling he was fibbing to annoy a certain vampire. Not that she blamed him; it was fun.

Dracula gave a faint hiss causing Abraham to turn his head towards the darkness, actually rolling his eyes at the vampire. "Oh be quiet old man, contrary to what you may think, I do not mind you being with Fiona. You've both been good for each other. I only hope you keep that in mind," he added seriously, but there was still a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.

"Gramps why are you here? I mean, I thought this type of thing isn't allowed," she asked, happily ignoring Dracula's unhappy presence.

Not that she doubted it was him; she knows he's real. He feels like family - it's not a trick, of that she's sure. Besides if it_ was_ a trick Dracula would be making a hell of a lot more noise in order to warn her. It's easy for her to tell that his growls aren't warnings; he just doesn't like her grandfather.

"True, this is not normally allowed, but He felt a little divine intervention was due." Abraham said.

"And by He you mean...?"

"God. Obviously."

A beat.

"What's he like?" she asked, deciding it was worth a shot. Abraham grinned knowingly at her.

"Be a good girl and one day you'll find out. What I've told you is all I'm allowed to - the only thing I can say now is more for Judas than you, my dear," he told her before turning back to Dracula... or at least the area his sounds are coming from. "The second can be found under Stonehenge."

This time Dracula actually spoke, though it was hard to hear him. "What, no speech about how much you miss me?"

His voice may have been hard to hear, but his sarcasm was unmistakable. Abraham laughed merrily,

"Actually I have," he admitted simply before turning back to his granddaughter. "Now it's about time you woke up Fi, you're giving Jake and Simon heart attacks."

She chuckled. "Well, then it's time well spent in my opinion."

Though she couldn't see him Fi had a vague feeling that Dracula was pouting about not getting a rise out of Abraham. Laughing lightly she waited for Abraham to wake her up... she didn't wait long.

* * *

"Fi? Dad she's waking up," she heard Jake's voice say from above her.

"Move over Jake. Fiona can you hear me?" came Simons voice from somewhere on her right.

"Loud and clear captain," she mumbled while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Starting to sit up she felt someone grab her shoulders to help her. Opening her eyes she saw an older grey-haired version of Jake sitting by her on the bed. Smiling lightly at Simon she scooted back to sit at the headboard.

It was during these silent moments she realized something. Something that hadn't happened since she was nine. Dracula's gone. Okay, not completely but the walls between them are back to being as they had so many years ago. She couldn't talk to him, all she's getting is an impression of how he felt.

Due to the circumstances he felt pretty ticked.

"Fiona do you know what happened?" Jake asked, moving to sit on her left.

Looking around the room (the guest room that Simon has been staying in) she saw three other people in the room. One is Layla's mother (who is Simons sister and Jake's aunt) Molly. The woman is definitely an older, slightly frumpy, version of Layla.

Sitting in a blue chair beside Molly is a short redheaded female slayer, and across the room leaning against a wall that's adorned with tacky flower wallpaper stands a tall male slayer... for the life of her Fiona couldn't remember their names.

"Lilith did something, a spell of sorts. I'll get to that later uncle Simon, but first I've got some news," Fiona finally replied before launching into her 'dream'.

Fifteen minutes later found Jake and Fiona hovering over Simons back as he worked on his laptop, logging onto the Orders database. Many years ago all of her grandfathers files were put into the main database under restriction to all but Simon and Mary – the problem was that they never bothered to look through everything.

"You say it's called 'The Night'?"

"That's what he said."

"I think I found it, it's written by a seer called Witty Nickname."

"Oh, that sounds promising," Jake deadpanned as Fi snorted in disbelief.

Simon, silently agreeing with his son, opened the file and read it out loud. Despite his better judgment, of course.

**The Night**

The owls call under the blood-red moon on an eclipsed days night will bring forth eternal night.

A new vessel of her choosing can be claimed this day,

Only the third cursed may stop her, only the second can bar the way.

Cursed alike these three lie, in the shadows of immortal life.

The defiant, the jealous, and the betrayer; masters of a deadly race; all alike, yet not the same.

Forsaken, forgotten, and damned they are deemed,

Yet all have forgotten that not all is what it seems.

Forsaken, forgotten, and damned they do not have to be,

The choice was theirs, and always shall be.

The Almighty provides all any will ever need, ask honestly for forgiveness, and ye shall receive.

These words will come to pass in the fifteenth year of the pureblood's reign,

After this nothing can be the same.

The flame may prevail only if the darkness chooses; a love together many will condemn, is one that will exist till the very end.

Daughter of fire, daughter of sin, this is the bringer of peace if she wisely chooses her hand.

Trusting a wolf of the owls blood will bring forth the final play; and a little child shall lead them; yes only the child can lead the way.

"Alright," Jake said slowly, "I didn't get a word of that."

"The owl is referring to Lilith, in the King James Version of the Bible she's referred to as the screech owl," Simon explained to his son.

"The defiant, the jealous, and the betrayer... who are they?" asked the dark headed male slayer standing in the corner of the room. Fi isn't sure but she thinks his name is Hank - there are just so many slayers slinking about that it's hard to remember them all.

Everyone puzzled over this riddle for several moments, each throwing out idea's to the rest. Ignoring them Fiona sat in silence, thinking it all over, before finally having her own.

"I think I get it," she stated slowly, causing them all to stop speaking instantly, turning towards her. "'The fifteenth year of the pureblood's reign', that's now and that's me. Sometime this year there's going to be an eclipse, and on that day Lilith will have a chance at getting a new vessel; a new body. She'll be free from the astral plain and then she'll bring an eternal night - which means that somehow she'll block out the sun permanently with that eclipse."

"Giving demons more time to play," Jake added, following her train of thought. Without sunlight the world would become a feeding ground 24/7. There would never be any break at all.

Fiona nodded at him before continuing. "The defiant, the jealous, and the betrayer; masters of a deadly race; all alike, yet not the same. The defiant is Lilith, the betrayer is Judas, and if we're keeping with the Bible theme -which we obviously are- then the jealous is another person from there."

"Cain! It's Cain, he's the only other Bible character that's associated with vampires," Jake said excitedly, happy that they're finally getting somewhere.

Simon nodded in agreement with his son. "He killed Abel out of jealousy; it makes sense."

The tall redheaded female slayer (who Fi thinks is named Shelly, but still isn't sure) leaned back in her chair thoughtfully. "It says 'only the third cursed may stop her, only the second can bar the way.' - what's that mean?"

"Easy," Fi said, "Lilith was the first one cursed, Cain was the second, and Judas was the third. That means that only Cain and Dracula can stop her."

Everyone (other than Fiona) went pale.

"We're screwed," Jake stated simply.

"Not necessarily," Hank spoke up thoughtfully. (Fiona's still not sure, but decides to call him that anyway.)

"During all our research on Lilith we found that not long before Hakan defeated her she was on a special killing spree... it's rumored that she killed all of Cain's kin, and then entrapped Cain himself. Much like Hakan did to her - hell that might even be where he got the idea."

"So?" Simon asked.

"Obviously she didn't want Cain around, and she knows about this prophecy, so that suggests maybe she believed that Cain and Judas _would _turn against her."

"But why would she assume that?" Shelly asked. "It's not possible, Dracula would jump at the chance for something like this, I'm sure Cain wasn't any different."

"Maybe she couldn't risk it," offered Simon, "I've met Dracula though, and I have to say I agree with you Sherry; he'd jump at this chance."

Ah, Sherry. Well Fi was close. Blocking everyone out again she focused inwards on Dracula, trying to get his feeling on all this. Thoughtfulness and irritation are the only things she got from him. Damn, she never thought she'd miss being able to talk freely with him, but she was.

So Lilith thought Dracula would turn against her (smart woman) and that's why instead of leaving his remains in peace she wanted to find them. She's trying to get rid of the threat, even if it's dormant one.

Or was it just...

"Oh, that's not good." Fiona gasped out loud as the night with the weegie board popped back into her mind.

"What is it Fi?" Jake asked, moving to her side as everyone else watched quietly.

"She didn't want Dracula's remains in order to trap him; she was going to use him as her vessel. She wanted him to be her new body, one that was already like her old one. But that night I talked to her she said that she liked me better than Judas... that my name would soon be hers..." she let her words trail off, knowing everyone would get what she's saying.

Lilith is going to try and take _her_ _body_ now. That's what that spell was about earlier; she now knew Dracula is inside Fiona. Lilith is blocking him in case he tries to stop her from taking over Fi. Of course the others in the room didn't know about that part, but they did catch onto the fact that Lilith wanted her body.

Simon jumped back over to his laptop hastily typing in a search for eclipses to see when (and if) there was one this year. As the results came up he let out an aggravated grunt and glared at the ceiling.

"Dammit Abraham! You couldn't have played messenger a little sooner?"

Seeing her uncle 'scold' her grandfather in such a manner made Fiona feel a little better.

"What is it?" she questioned, fighting a tiny smirk.

"There will be a full eclipse in two days."

"Oh dear," Molly said softly, speaking up for the first time since Fiona woke up.

"Release Dracula," Fiona stated firmly, remembering that her grandfather told him where Cain was. That had to mean he's meant to help... but just because he was meant to didn't mean he would. However, the prophecy **_does_** talk about free will and forgiveness - this might be his last chance.

And if not they'd be screwed anyway. Though Fiona has faith that if it came to it, Dracula would make her death quick; they are friends after all.

Fiona felt shock coming at her from all directions. Even from Dracula.

"Are you insane? He'll kill us all... and what's worse is that before he did it your mother would kill_ me_." Simon said.

"It's our only shot... let him out and I'll talk to him," Fi offered. Simon scoffed.

"And what would you say? You don't know him Fi, he's pure evil."

"He released mom didn't he? He may be evil, but he wont hurt what's his. And I'm his - more then mom ever was," she said confidently, getting as close to telling the truth as she dared.

Simon and the others gaped at her. She has no doubt Dracula probably is too.

"Fi I don't think you understand what you're saying," Jake began gently.

Simon however wasn't as gentle. "You're damn right she doesn't know what she's saying. Fiona go to your room."

Glaring around the room she stood up and stalked out the door, heading across the hall to her room. Locking the door behind her she went over to her bed and sat down, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket.

She's going to need help, and she knew just the people to ask for it. Praying that she was doing the right thing she scrolled down her contact list until she saw Speeds name.

Pressing the call button she gave a weary sigh. "Here goes nothing."

Dracula, had he been permitted to, would probably be quipping wittily at her. Or sputtering in shock. Either way she's happy she can't hear him.


	10. Chapter 9: Mates, Mistakes & Revelations

**Disclaimer:  
Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

**_Chapter Nine:_ Mates, Mistakes & Revelations**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^ ;**_

"Y-you..." Jake stuttered in bewilderment, unable to grasp what he was seeing. Blinking his eyes frantically, praying that he was seeing this wrong, he slowly lifted his gaze away from his computer and stared slack jawed at Fiona over the top of his screen.

Grinning smugly back at him over her own laptop's screen she nodded. "I did."

"What are they doing?" Simon asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee after walking in just in time to see his son begin sputtering. Hank (turns out Fi had been right on his name), who was sitting tiredly on a stool by the kitchen island, glanced up from his newspaper towards the two teens at the table.

"They're playing some kind of game. They were arguing about blue soul stones, whatever that means."

Closing her laptop Fiona got up from her chair and went to pour herself some breakfast. Jake stared after her dumbly before whipping his head towards his father.

"Dad! Fiona killed me!" he whined.

Simon and Hank both raised an eyebrow at the childish exclamation before turning expectantly to Fiona who was pouring some blood into her mug. Taking a small sip she batted her lashes and feigned innocence. "Lots of things can happen in the heat of battle."

"We were in our home! _**Alone**_!" Jake accused.

Gulping down the rest of her breakfast she moved to the backdoor, picking up her backpack on the way, waiting for Hank (her escort).

"Yeah, about that, I'm kicking you out."

"You're what?"

"I expect you out of our little castle by the time I'm home from school... and don't you even think of taking Cuddles."

"That Lava Lizard is mine!"

"You may have found it, but I tamed it. He's mine."

"This isn't fair!"

"You should have just given her that soul stone thing," Hank said, putting down his paper and following Fiona out the backdoor.

Simon watched in bemusement as his son got up from the table and stomped out of the room, his whole face pulled into a pout. Taking a drink of his coffee he sat down on a stool and picked up Hanks discarded paper.

"Divorce is such a messy thing," he stated to the empty room, shaking his head slightly with a grin.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be the day of the eclipse, and so far the Order has no real plan outside of keeping Fiona under heavy protection spells. This forced Fi into a harsh realization; her grandfather was right, they're really bad at this.

She'd tried to explain to them that the eclipse would somehow be boosting Lilith's power (hence the eternal night and new vessel stealing ability) but she was ignored. He mother and Simon has way too much faith in the wizards working for the Order.

Fiona, however, did not. It was time to handle things herself... because seriously, she couldn't do any worse.

Secretly she called Speed and informed both him and Lash of the situation, deciding that some rules needed to be broken; Fi knows that she can trust them to help no matter what, as their morals aren't particularly high. It's nice to have friends like that.

After they'd hatched a small plan, Fiona began feeling better about the whole situation. That feeling, however, was rapidly fading as the reality of what they were doing began sinking in. Granted they didn't have any better options; laying around and waiting for the danger to pass like Simon wanted didn't feel like the thing to do, but going against her family and the Order was something she never thought she'd do.

This whole thing could very well blow up in her face... and seeing as how the boys should have already completed their task, and currently found herself unable to get a hold of them, Fi had a feeling that it was already starting to go wrong. But in order to keep the Order and her family in the dark she had to pretend nothing was wrong. The only way to vent her frustration and worry was to pick a meaningless fight with Jake and then kick him out of their little virtual home.

That felt good, but it wasn't a long lasting feeling. On top of everything else she had Warren to worry about.

_'Trusting a wolf of the owls blood will bring forth the final play.'_

It was obvious who that line in the prophecy was about. But how Warren could help was beyond her. There's only one other line of the prophecy that she (and the others) couldn't understand.

_'The flame may prevail only if the darkness chooses; a love together many will condemn, is one that will exist till the very end.'_

What the hell was that about? It couldn't be talking about her and Warren... okay, yes, she had a crush on him but love was another thing altogether.

She needed to talk to him, that was the only way she could get some insight into all this. That however was proving to be a problem. Simon instructed Hank (and every other slayer and teacher in the school) to make sure she stayed far away from the werewolf.

She'd thought of having Will pass a message on to her fellow pyro, but apparently Warren wouldn't let any of the others around him. Even Layla got a brush off... and that was a very difficult thing to do. Hell, Fi hadn't thought it _could _be done at all.

"Miss Sheppard, which would you choose?"

Fiona's head snapped up towards Mr. Boy as he interrupted her train of thought.

"Uh.." she stammered, quickly glancing at the chalk board behind him she took a guess when she saw the pictures taped to it. "Um, I'd go for the one without a cape."

"Ah, wise choice," Mr. Boy agreed sagely. "Not many can handle a cape on their outfits, as it takes a certain skill to avoid getting it caught up. There are very few who can handle it. The Commander and myself for instance..."

When he turned to address the rest of the class Fiona once again tuned him out. Slouching down into her seat she glanced out the window, spotting several slayers prowling around the front lawn. It was becoming clear to Fi that if she wanted to talk to Warren she wasn't going to do it here at school.

After school she needs to ditch Hank and head for the Paper Lantern. It wouldn't be very hard to ditch him, after all he was only human. Skilled, but still human.

* * *

Climbing into Warrens bedroom window Fiona mused silently about how easy this had been. Hank gave her no trouble at all – heck, he made it really easy to ditch him. It was a wonder the guy hadn't tripped and landed on his own stake years ago in Fi's opinion.

After leaving him, Fiona headed towards the Paper Lantern, but found the place really busy tonight. She thought it best to wait for Warren to get off work. Remembering that he and his family lived above the restaurant she decided to wait for him in his room.

Okay, yeah, plus she just wanted to snoop. So what?

Climbing up the building had been very easy (the whole being a vampire thing she had going on helped out) but it was slightly more tricky to figure out which room was his. His little brother had practically the same scent as Warren, but eventually she found the right room.

Or at least she assumed she had - what exactly little Toby would be doing with posters of heavy metal bands, a large skull painted on the wall and, ooh, hey, looky there! Peaking out from under the bed was a Playboy.

Yeah. This is Warrens room.

Scanning the small room she took in the dark colors with look of distaste. The walls were painted maroon, the dresser, desk and bed were a dark cherrywood. His bedspread (surprisingly, neatly made) was also a deep maroon, and looked to be silk. Definitely not her style... and, given the fact that she's a vampire, it was kind of funny. Dark, sophisticated, gothic, hard rock and stuff like that should be her kind of thing.

She was probably the only vampire in the world who painted their bedroom walls yellow. Even Jake is appalled by her lack of gothic decorating skill.

Gazing around the room, her eyes landed on his cluttered desk in the corner. Walking over she spotted a large notebook on it - actually it looked more like one of those long art-drawy-book-thingy's... oh, wait, it's a sketchbook. Duh. Rolling her eyes at her own blond moment she picked the book up.

Didn't Toby say something about a sketchbook?

Grinning she flipped open the first page she was surprised at how good he actually is. At first the pages were just scattered with different things, almost like he was doodling. Turning the next few pages she grew more impressed as he began to draw people.

The first picture that was fully done was of the bus ride to Sky High, their first year. He had an amusing picture of Ron behind the wheel smiling happily and obliviously while everyone else was jumping out the back emergency door.

The next one was of Sara (Fi tried not to growl in irritation... she was _so_ not jealous) by herself in the doorway of the bus, smiling beautifully. The next few pages had the same theme.

Rolling her eyes Fi kept flipping, stopping instantly when she saw herself wearing a crown with Speed and Lash kneeling at her feet. The word 'Master' at the top of the page. Fi let out a small giggle.

The next page also had her on it... so did the next... and the next. Somewhere around the tenth page he'd gotten brave - and extremely imaginative.

"_If he seriously thinks I'd ever wear __**that **__he's insane!_" she scoffed mentally.

"_That thing isn't even big enough to called a dish rag!"_

Flipping the page she grimaced at the sight of herself and Sara doing... things.

_"In his dreams! Sick bastard. Although, I wonder if two people can really bend like that..._" she trailed off thoughtfully, tilting the book to the side to see it at a better angle. Catching her mind before it completely dived into the gutter she quickly flipped the page.

"What are you doing?"

Giving a small 'eep!' Fiona dropped the book and whipped around to face an amused Warren. An amused and _shirtless _Warren. Seeing a towel slung over his arm she realized he just got out of the shower.

"I, uh, thought you were working," she stuttered, tearing her eyes away from a small bead of water trailing from his wet hair down his stomach, slowly sliding onto his low slung jeans, dampening the material.

Seemingly oblivious to her struggle, Warren turned and shut bedroom door causally, and then moved to lean against it.

"My shift ended early. How'd you get in?

"Window."

"It was locked."

"I, um, picked it I guess you could say."

"You can't pick a lock on a window."

"You can if you use a rock..."

Warren looked away from her towards the window, just now noticing the gentle breeze coming through the broken glass. Tiny glass shards twinkled up at him from the hardwood floor. He turned back to look at her impassively. "You're paying for that."

"Planned on it."

And she truly had... well, unless he turns out to be evil. If so then he could pay for it by himself; evil people don't deserve help with payment plans. This would be between him and the Home Depo.

"Why are you here?"

She shifted nervously. "I needed to talk with you."

Warren lifted an eyebrow and pointedly looked at his discarded sketchbook on the floor where she'd dropped it. "And how does snooping through my things help you do that?"

"I was just curious - I'm kinda regretting it now though," she said, trying to push the mental image of the pictures from her mind.

"Getting caught will do that to a person. What do you want to talk about?" he asked, appearing either unaware or uncaring of what she'd seen.

Okay then. She could play it cool too. Pushing away her embarrassment Fi finally stopped looking at her feet. "First I want to say I'm sorry about everything. I shouldn't have-"

"I get it," he interrupted firmly. "If I was in your shoes I would've done the same... but what brought this change of heart?"

There are many things Fi could say at this point, but she figured it was best to be blunt. "Because according to a prophecy I need to trust you in order to save myself, and possibly the world, from your great-great-whatever-granny."

Warren cocked his head to the side and eyed her, confusion clear in his voice and expression. "Huh?"

Fiona pulled out the wooden chair in front of his desk and turned it so she could straddle it, hanging her arms across the back, facing him. Now comfortable she launched into the whole story. Of course she left out her little plan of rebellion against the Order, but she was honest about the rest.

After she finished Warren sat in silence for a minute, obviously thinking it all over. He shook his head with a frown.

"This is all way more complicated then it should be."

"Yeah, usually is."

"And in order for this to work you have to trust me? That's why you're here, because the prophecy said that?" he asked slowly, eying her carefully.

"Well, yeah." Fiona said with a nod.

"You're here because it was written, who knows how many centuries ago, that you _have_ to trust me?"

"Pretty much."

"It won't work Fi."

"Wha- why? It says -"

"_It_ says. Not you."

"Your point?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Sure."

"Really? Right now?"

"...Yes."

"Okay, well, I don't see any 'final play' happening. No hordes of vampires and demons crashing through the window - not that you left much to crash through. I don't even see four freaky horsemen riding across the sky."

Fiona felt her heart sink a little. "I don't... was I reading it wrong?"

"I think you read it right, there's just one problem: you're only here 'cause it says to be. It can't tell you how to feel Fiona. You may be saying you trust me, but you don't. Not really."

As she thought about it she realized he was right. Fi wasn't really trusting him at that moment; she was trusting the words of the prophecy. Unfortunately there's a big difference.

"I want to trust you. I liked being friends with you Warren... but I can't. Not until you explain yourself... even then I'm not sure if I'll like what I hear."

"You wont. I don't even like the truth," he agreed, crossing the room to sit on the end of his bed, facing her. Throwing the white towel over his left shoulder he raked his hand through his hair irritably, trying to find a place to start.

"You're a vampire, do you have a... do you feel likes there's someone else... argh! Okay, uh, it's like this; there's two of me. There's the human, and the wolf, but both are _**me**_... you get what I'm saying?"

Fi nodded slowly. "There's you, and then there's your inner-beast, but both are you... but not."

Wow, that sounds confusing when said out loud. But, weirdness of it aside, she did understand. Fiona is a vampire so she's constantly dealing with her inner-beast all the time. Her vampiric instinct is very much a part of her, yet at the same time it feels like she is two people. It's hard to explain, even to herself.

Warren eyed her sadly. "Do you have any idea what it's like to want to avoid something, to just be normal, but your inner beast wont let you?"

"I'm a vampire Warren, but not a normal one. My soul and my demon instinct's are constantly fighting for control. So yeah, I know what it's like... hell, sometimes it feels like I have more then one demon in me," she answered wryly, thinking of Dracula.

"I've tried so hard to fight it... I don't want this, but I can't help it," he said dejectedly, shoulders slumping.

"Okay, I don't know what's going on, but I do know it's not that bad," she said, worry coursing through her at the sight of him. Seeing Warren look so broken is unsettling.

He snorted softly. "You can't beat your inner demon, I've tried, it's impossible."

"Of course you can! Look at me! I walk in daylight, I'm immune to silver, holy water, and other religious stuff. And I don't even need to kill to live."

"But you still need blood," he pointed out.

"Okay, yes, but I don't have to have human blood. I don't even feel the need to attack people for it anymore... at least not as strongly," she added at his skeptical look. "The point is that I'm fighting it. You can too, with whatever it is your beast wants."

"Not on this, mines already decided."

"Mind over matter, Warren," she replied, quoting what Charles Xavier had told her. "You'd be surprised the things you can do if you have to."

"It doesn't work like that, not on this."

"Why is that?" she asked, deciding to humor him for a minute and trying not to roll her eyes.

"Because, for werewolves, mates are for life once they're chosen."

Fiona, for the first time in a long time, was speechless. Jake would kill to see this.

She wasn't experienced in this sort of thing, but she wasn't a complete idiot. She understands exactly what he's saying. This could be bad... or, well, it _might_ be good; a werewolf would never hurt his chosen mate. Either way though, this confession made her a little uneasy. Dracula is sure enjoying it though; amusement was flooding off him like a huge tidal wave. For the first time since it happened Fi find herself glad they couldn't talk to each other at the moment. His snickering and jokes are the last thing she needed to hear right now.

Mind frantically racing for something to say, while trying to ignore the small butterflies that decided to go haywire in her stomach at his confession, Fi finally lifted her gaze back to him. The sight that greeted her killed the butterflies instantly. He looked pissed.

"My dad isn't the greatest, I know that. Everyone knows that." Warren said, voice low and his face becoming unreadable. "He doesn't really want my mom, doesn't love her; it's all lust on his part. For her though it's different. See, we don't get to pick our mates, fate does that. She has no choice but to love him, despite his lack of real interest in her. Having a mate who doesn't return your feelings is hell... and it's slowly killing her. If it wasn't for me and Toby she would have offed herself years ago."

Okay, that was sad. Really sad, but there are more pressing issue's to deal with at the moment. "Not that I don't feel for your moms situation, but what does this have to do with anything?"

Warren's gaze hardened. "I don't want to be my mom. I promised myself a long time ago that I wouldn't let that happen. I refuse to have a mate. All my life I've kept myself at a distance from everyone for that reason."

Whoa. Well, that explains why he's so withdrawn from everyone. Even from _guys_ his own age. Werewolves (and most other magic/mythic/whatever-you-want-to-call-them creatures, vampires included) don't tend to care about gender.

Damn. Warren kept himself away from everyone in order to avoid finding a mate... that _had_ to suck. It was also, apparently, useless.

Warren didn't want to connect with anyone; didn't want to be hurt, but the choice wasn't his. Warren doesn't want her (or anyone) as his mate, but his 'inner wolf' does.

Trying not to be insulted at the fact that he is the second person to unwillingly care about her (Dracula being the first), Fiona tried to be encouraging. Because she's nice like that.

"You don't have to let your beast decide this, trust me it _can_ be done."

Warren lowered his eyes from hers, too embarrassed at the current situation to hold her gaze. "How do you deal with yours?"

"It's not easy - especially when it has an English accent, somehow that makes anyone sound convincing," she admitted without thinking.

Warren lifted his eyes back to her face, confusion clouding them. "English accent?"

"Personal joke. Anyway, as flattering as this is, this doesn't explain _everything_," she replied, hurrying to change the subject.

Warren lowered his eyes once again. Damn, Fiona really isn't comfortable seeing him so timid. Though, to be fair, this is a life altering thing for him; mates are for life. Pureblood werewolves are immortal. This could end up being an eternal pain for him.

Of course that was only if the world doesn't go to hell in a handbasket after tomorrow. If it did she doubted anyone who wasn't under the Lilin's rule would live very long.

"What else do you want to know?" Warren asked, his tone low and gruff, finally starting to sound normal again. At least for him. Apparently he was closing himself off, which is something she couldn't blame him for. If she was on his end of this conversation she would probably want to be distanced emotionally too.

"Did you attack me and Layla the night before homecoming?"

"I was with Will at the Paper Lantern while he was waiting on Layla, we were both there till closing."

Fi stretched out her senses towards him and was surprised to find no shields to try and penetrate around him; he was letting her feel his aura. Quickly scanning it she couldn't feel any deceit coming from him.

"Okay," she said, "then that night at the park, why did you say 'So that's what that was?' when I mentioned the attack?"

Warren's fingers twitched slightly, as a sign of agitation flowed out of him. "At the dance, when we were dancing, I could smell another wolf on you. On your neck."

Fiona's eyes widened in realization; that's why he'd been nuzzling her! He was trying to erase the other wolfs scent on her, that was... well, creepy.

Very creepy.

"Yeah, that werewolf slashed my throat open, if it wasn't for Layla I'd be dead," she replied softly, replaying that night over in her mind. Fiona tried to never think back on fights that she'd almost lost; it tended to remind her she wasn't invincible. To live the life she lead it wasn't a good idea to doubt herself or her skills. True, an ego was a bad thing, but having an opponent sense your own doubt in yourself is worse. Fatally worse.

Shaking away her thoughts she focused back on Warren who was waiting patently on her, head still bowed.

"Why would you let me bite you?"

Her fellow pyro sighed, he knew this question was coming, but still wasn't ready for it. His actions had been selfish and he knew it. Nonetheless, he knew he owed her the truth. "I thought that if I could bond us, even just a little, I could compete with Jake."

Fiona blinked slowly. "Come again?"

"Your bond with Jake is strong, your auras almost meld together like family! If I could've gotten you to drink from me I could have given us a bond... it was stupid, I know, but I wouldn't have let you take enough to hurt yourself. Only enough to give us a pack bond or something."

A pack (some call it a 'clan') bond is something that werewolves _and_ vampires do quite often. Either between their own kind or with humans, to make an artificial family of sorts; blood bonds without actually being born/bitten into the same line originally. It was also something that couldn't be broken.

Anger quickly flared through her at this before vanishing just as fast. She understood why he tried to do it; if she and him were bonded then she could never leave him. Seems that he _**really **_didn't want to end up like his mom if he was willing to try and trap Fi into liking him.

But there was one part that didn't make sense...

"Why would you be competing with Jake?"

"You're together," Warren stated, his tone clearly of the 'duh!' variety.

That's when it clicked in Fiona's mind. Warren jumped in shock as she let out a loud bark of laughter.

"J-Jake and I aren't dating... we just joke a-around," she finally managed to say through her giggles.

Warren leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, watching her calmly as she shook with laughter. "Then why," he said suspiciously, "do you always reek of him?"

Fi paused abruptly, face contorting in thought... and then started laughing again, harder this time. "B-because I always w-wear his clothes," she answered, tears streaming down her flushed face. "H-he wouldn't t-touch me with a ten foot pole! Trust me we've experimented, I'm not his t-type."

In the back of her mind Fiona only vaguely felt Dracula begin to tense up. At the moment though she couldn't be bothered to care - the thought of herself and Jake actually being together was too hilarious to allow her to think properly.

That being said, she completely missed the anticipation in Warrens voice, and the shift in his aura. "So, you don't love him?"

"Oh I love him, b-but not like that!"

"You don't love _anyone_ like that?"

Fiona almost choked on her breath as Dracula's face popped into mind at the question. Gasping she tried to calm herself down. "No. No one," she answered firmly, wiping the tears from her face, her hands slightly shaking.

"So it's not too late?"

All thoughts of Dracula, Jake, and everyone else flew from Fi's mind at Warren's heated, yet hopeful, look. "Uh... well, not necessarily. But I don't think this is the time for that conversat-"

That's as far as she got before Warren stood swiftly and, using enhanced speed, came at her. The next thing Fiona knew she was pinned to his bed. How the hell he'd gotten them both there so fast without her even registering the damn journey was beyond her. He was definitely more skilled then he let on... she really hoped she never had to fight him. One ass kicking by a Lycan was enough for one lifetime.

Breathing heavily she looked up at him hovering over her, their position exactly the same as it had been in the cafeteria so long ago. The only difference is that he has both of her hands pinned by his on her either side of her head on the bed. Also the lack of broken table pieces pushing into her back was noticeably absent, but she wasn't complaining.

Warren leaned down, further pressing his weight into her, their chests flush against each other. Fi tensed, realizing he was going to kiss her.

**Come on Barbie, let's go party! Ah-ah-ah-yeah!**

The werewolf blinked, then groaned loudly while the vampire sighed in relief. Pushing Warren off her, Fi pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, absently wondering why no one had bothered to try and call her earlier after she ditched Hank. Guess he just woke up. Seeing Jake's name on the screen she accepted the call.

"Yeah?"

"Fiona! Where the hell are you? Hank said you knocked him out."

She snorted into the phone. "Actually I just tied his shoe laces together, he tripped and knocked himself out. I put him where no baddies would find him while he was out though, so he shouldn't be complaining."

Apparently Jake had her on speaker phone.

"You put me on the roof of a church! Up on the damn steeple!" Hanks outraged voice yelled in the background, followed by a few soft snickers.

Warren, not even needing his enhanced hearing to hear Hanks scream, chuckled. "The steeple? How'd you pull that off?"

"A strong rope and a little patience can get a lot done," she answered simply, smiling faintly.

"Warren?" came a different voice from the phone. It took a second for Fi to realize it was Will. What, was everyone at her house?

"Warren Peace? Fiona what the hell are you doing with him?" Simon yelled this time. He sounded angry. Extremely angry.

"Long story uncle Simon, but don't worry, he's with us," she answered hastily.

Simon started to say something but hushed whispers cut him off. The whispers continued on heatedly for minute until Jake's voice rose above the rest. "No, she needs to know."

"Jake don't -" Simon started, but Jake paid him no mind.

"Dracula's remains are gone Fiona... and... and Lash was found unconscious by the vault he was being stashed in. He was beaten pretty bad."

Fiona nearly dropped the phone. This wasn't good. "Where's Speed?"

A beat.

"He's missing too. All we have is his baseball hat, it was in Lash's hand - there was blood everywhere Fi."

"Oh God," she whispered, horrified by what this could mean.

"That's not all Fi."

"Jake don't! We need to get her home first."

Once again Jake ignored his father.

"Fi, your moms missing too."

This time she did drop the phone.

Heart beating rapidly she quickly moved to the broken window and looked out into the night sky, her eyes franticly flickering around as if in search of something up there in it. Reaching into her senses she tried to pull on Dracula's link to her. She got no response. Nothing. It was as if there had never been a link there at all.

This was all her fault... she should have just let it ride out on it's own like Simon wanted.

"Oh God. What did I do?"

* * *

_Daughter of fire, daughter of sin; this is the bringer of peace if she wisely chooses her hand._

Gee, no pressure. Fate really needed to pick better hero's for this stuff, because Fi has a feeling she completely ruined everything. But, in her defense, it seemed like such a good idea at the time.

"We trusted your judgment Fiona! That's the only reason we allowed Lash and Speed to be trained at the Order instead of staying in jail. How could they have slipped past your senses?" Simon asked, his tone a mixture of anger and disbelief.

"And on that note, how do we know Warren hasn't too?"

Fiona finally lifted her head to look at her uncle across from her at the kitchen table. "They didn't slip past me."

Jake, the only other person with them in the kitchen, scooted his chair closer to hers. "Fi, they took Dracula's remains - or at least Speed did – but the security camera's showed them _both_ breaking into the vault before the power was cut. We won't know the full story until Lash wakes up."

Fiona was torn about what to do; she couldn't let them take the fall for this, but she didn't want to explain her role either. Simon might hate her for it, and Jake... well, Jake would flay her.

After learning the news last night both Fiona and Warren (who to Fi's disappointment put a shirt on) rushed to her house. The whole place was pandemonium; slayers, witches, wizards, and more then a few mutants were there. As was Layla and Will, along with their parents. No one knew what to do; Mary, Dracula and Speed are missing and the eclipse is getting closer.

On top of that, Dracula's been ignoring their link; she couldn't get anything from him; she couldn't even feel him anymore. It left her feeling rather empty. For the first time ever she was alone and, surprisingly, she didn't like it.

"There's no telling when he'll wake up," Simon pointed out, running a tired hand over his face.

Fiona sighed, she feels tired and beyond scared at this point. Her mother's missing and possibly in extreme danger (along with her friend), and it's all Fi's fault. Plus, the first vampire to ever walk the earth is planning on moving into her body in about 6 hours.

Okay, maybe it's time to just come clean about everything. World might be ending, so it's not like Simon can wind up grounding her. Jake, however, might still flay her.

"I told them to do it," she admitted softly. Jake and Simon both froze, looked at each other, and then looked at her.

"What?" Simon asked, brows furrowed.

"I told them to do it, Simon. How do you think they got past security? If you check the logs you'll see they used my passwords."

Simon shook his head in confusion. "Why would you do that?"

"I wanted them to get Dracula, to revive him. I'm sure that's where half that blood you saw everywhere came from; I made them take pigs blood in with them."

"Are you insane? What was you thinking?"

Jake laid a hand on his dads arm, trying to calm him. "She did it 'cause of the prophecy. She thought he'd help... she was trying to help."

Leave it to Jake to instantly know where she was coming from. Bless him. Guess he was over losing Cuddles - if they lived through today she'd get him his own Lava Lizard.

"Fiona," Simon began through clinched teeth, "Dracula will never help us. He won't help you. You don't understand-"

Ah, well hell. Here we go. The impending apocalypse should maybe make it okay to finally tell the truth... at least that's what she plans to keep telling herself. Fiona squared her shoulders as she interrupts Simon.

"Yes I do understand. I know him - I've always known him, I lied to you all."

The anger on Simon's face became quickly replaced by worry. "You had dreams with him, like Mary?"

"No... well, yes, eventually he did that with me, but it was different. He was in my head or something; I've been talking with him since I was little. Yes he's evil, I'll give you that, but he won't hurt me."

Silence engulfed the whole kitchen for a minute. And then...

"Then why is your mother missing! Do you realize the things he's probably _doing_ to her? He's not going to help stop Lilith, you _**stupid**_ _**little girl!**_" Simon exploded, his face turning red. Maybe it was just her vampiric eyesight, but she could see several veins popping up along his neck and forehead.

Fiona has never seen her uncle like this before.

He was pissed.

Beyond pissed actually. As much as his anger and insult hurt her though, what Fi hated most was the betrayed look on Jakes face.

"Why didn't you tell _me_?" he asked.

Fi lowered her gaze. "The same reason I didn't tell anyone; it would scare you."

"No-"

"Yes it would," she interrupted haltingly. "If every time I looked at you, you knew he was looking too, you'd never have been comfortable. Everything you ever said to me he heard... there was never a private moment for me because of him. It doesn't matter what you say Jay, eventually you would have started to avoid me. After that, you would have feared me. Everyone would have."

"I would never fear you."

"The hell you wouldn't. Every time I've ever stepped out of line you all had a panic attack! Thinking I'd finally given in... just think how you all would have reacted had you known that Dracula was a bigger part of me than you thought. If you'd known that more than his blood was in me I'd still be locked inside the Order, like I was when I was little."

"As much I hate to interrupt, we have a bigger situation to handle here," Molly said standing in the doorway, cutting into the unfolding argument. All heads turned to the older redhead who entered the room, closing the door swiftly behind her.

"We're going to need a moment Molly," Simon said irritably, dismissing her. The look she gave him made it clear where Layla got her attitude from. Completely ignoring him she moved to sit at the table on Fi's right. The three others wondered just how long she'd been listening in.

"Did you hear -?"

"Every word," Molly confirmed before Simon could finish. Oddly enough she seemed to be okay with the news. Must be a peaceful hippy thing.

"But I believe now is not a good time to be fighting over little white lies."

Simons eyes bulged. "Little white lies! Do you have any idea -"

Molly sent him a stern look causing him to pause mid-sentence. "Would you like the girl to rewind time and tell you from the start? There's nothing that can be done now. Besides, put yourself in her shoes Simon; what would you have done?"

Fiona ducked her head, unable to look at them. "I thought I could handle it. I thought I would just keep quiet and live with him silently. No one needed to know. But then the prophecy said he could help, and gramps told him where to find Cain-"

"Wait. What did Abraham say?"

Fiona looked across the table at Simon. "After he told me about the prophecy he told Dracula that 'the second' could be found under Stonehenge."

"Are you sure he was talking to him?"

"Positive." Fi replied. Thoughtful silence fell over them for a moment until Molly chose to break it.

"Well," she said standing up, "I'm going to see if there's been any activity around the site then. I suggest you go in there and calm down the others, Simon; they're running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It's a disgrace to see so many powerful people act like idiots at a time like this."

Simon had no time to reply as she proceeded to usher him out the door. An awkward silence filled the room between the two friends.

And then...

**Come on Barbie, let's go party! Ah-ah-ah-yeah!**

"You seriously need to change that," he stated dryly.

Ignoring him Fiona opened her cellphone and brought it to her ear, not even bothering to see who it was. "Hello?"

"Fiona?"

"Yeah, who is this?"

"Toby."

"Oh. Hey kid, listen, now really isn't a good time -"

"It's important. Meet me at the Paper Lantern, come alone."

"I can't right now-"

"It's about Lilith."

"What?"

"Don't tell anyone, not even Warren. Hurry, there isn't much time. They're on their way."

"Who?"

"The Lilins."

The line went dead.


	11. Chapter 10: Miss Me?

**Disclaimer: Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.**

* * *

Alright, these are the original chapters. Now I just have to figure out how to hack up the final two chapters to rearrange the story to fit my new ending. Enjoy, and try to ignore my bad grammar. :)

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**Chapter Ten: Miss Me?**

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It was safe to say that Fiona Lucille Helsing was having a bad time.

A really bad time.

But it's also safe to say that her mother, Mary Van Helsing, is having one too. Granted, her personal situation didn't really have the fate of the world relying on it, but it still sucked. Bad pun intended.

_**~ Flashback: The night before, Order HQ, Washington DC**_

Sirens blared through the entire compound, alerting a break in of the secret facility. Several slayers reported spotting what could be Lilins on the grounds, others claimed it was just a glitch in the system. Either way, Mary knew better then to take a chance. Rushing through corridors she made her way to the underground vaults, one of which housed Dracula. Halfway there the power went out.

Making her way as quickly to his vault as she could with the back up generated lights to guide her, she was shocked to find the vault door wide open. Horror crept through her when she realized just what this could mean. Slowly entering the vault she saw the last thing she ever expected to see. Fiona's friends, the very ones her daughter swore by, was pouring a thick looking liquid from a large blue cooler into Dracula's coffin, four other empty ones laid on the floor beside them, indicating that they'd already been working on their task for a while. The insides of each cooler were stained red. Blood red.

"What are you doing?" she whispered, in too much shock to yell or try to stop them. Hell, she doubted anything could get her mobile again anytime soon.

"Good question."

Except that.

Mary whirled around at the new voice to find three tall men with extremely pale skin, platinum hair, black eyes, and a definite feeling of danger coming off them, standing behind her in the entrance to the vault. The one in the middle smiled, revealing two sets of fangs, top and bottom.

"Lilins," she stated, moving slowly backwards towards the two teens, both of whom where frozen in place, unable to move out of shock at being caught (they'd been so stealthy!) and fear of the vamps.

"Not good," Lash said, stating the obvious. Speed nodded in agreement. Both teens looked at each other, knowing that at least they had one thing up on these guys; they're mutants.

"What do you want?" Mary questioned, still moving backwards.

All three smirked, but it was the one in the middle who answered. "You know what we want, Helsing."

Mary stopped moving, looking to her left she found herself beside the coffin, glancing inside she saw nothing but blood, Dracula's charred remains now lost in it. Gulping she looked back to the Lilins, wondering which was the lesser evil; Dracula or them?

Putting on a brave face, she tried to keep her voice steady. "Why would you want him? I thought your mother wanted Fiona's body now."

The Lilins' smiles faltered. "Now why would she want that?" questioned the one in the middle suspiciously. Mary felt a small feeling of triumph rush through her; Lash and Speed both grinned, all three knowing that 'team Lilin' didn't know that 'team Helsing' had figured their plan out.

Score one for the good guys, it was about damn time.

Without words or glances exchanged between them, both boys hauled the now empty cooler over their shoulders and strolled to Mary's side, looking for all the world like they didn't care about the danger of their current situation.

Speed put his hands nonchalantly in his pockets, spreading both feet to stand in a lazy slouch like position... a hard thing to do while standing, but he pulled it off. Lash crossed his arms, and leaned against the coffin on Speeds left.

Lash and Speed both knew about vampire senses, and was able to quickly prepare themselves. They understood that as long as they kept calm their heartbeats would stay normal, and as long as they tried not to over think it, they could keep their scents normal too. Mind over matter was what Fiona called it when she explained it to them. If they could keep it up long enough, Dracula should be up to help them, or the Orders' security should get there. Either option was welcomed.

"Well," Lash said cockily, "it probably has to do with that whole 'vessel of her chosen' thing."

"Choosing." Speed corrected his friend lightly.

Mary stared at them in confusion, wondering why they were bothering to try and act unaffected by all this, the vampires' senses could easily pick up their fear. The boys had been training with the slayers long enough to know this. They couldn't be that stupid could they?

Yes.

Yes they could.

But their stupidity is one of the things they're greatly misjudged for. You see, as stupid as they can be, they can also be just as clever. Few people understood this except for Fiona; she was the first to take a real good look at them - and she liked what she saw.

Yes she made fun of their lack of brain power often, but deep down she, and they, knew it was mostly just joking. There was a reason the three are friends; they weren't as different as everyone thinks them to be.

So on that note, prepare to be astounded, because they handled this situation the exact same way Fi would have. With complete and utter randomness.

"I get why they're here." Speed said sagely.

Lash turned his head to him, looking completely intrigued. "Do tell."

"The dead dude behind us is 'the second' or something, they're here to make sure he doesn't get to Maxville."

Lash cocked his head at his friends words. "Why?" he asked.

"Because they don't like Christmas! If Drac gets out he can help Fi to keep the world turning, which means more Christmases!"

The Lilins scrunched their faces in disbelief and bafflement. These children seemed to be so calm and sincere, the vampires were unsure how to take them. Mary wasn't fairing much better than the vamps.

Lash on the other hand, seemed to be seriously following his friends explanation. "But why do they hate Christmas?"

"No one quite knows the reason. Something from their childhoods maybe. Either way, they despise it! Every Christmas they stare down on us with a sour frown - "

"Wait," Lash interrupted, "stare down on us from where?"

"Their cave."

Lash blinked, then nodded, completely satisfied with that answer. "Oh, okay. Go on."

"Anyway, what they hate the most is the noise on Christmas day."

"The noise?"

Speed nodded to his friend. "The noise from every girl and boy who wake up early and rush for their toys."

Lash quirked a brow in thought. "You know what? I can see how that would be annoying."

"But there's also the singing." Speed added as if that was an important part.

"Singing?"

"Yes, they like that least of all! When everyone, tall and small, stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing, they stand hand-in-hand and start singing!"

"Geez! Really? How corny." Lash said, shaking his head in dismay.

"They'll sing and sing, and the more the Lilins hear every year, they finally figured they needed to put a stop to this stupid thing going on here!"

"Stop Christmas from coming? But how?"

"They got a great idea! An awful idea!"

"An awful idea?"

"A wonderful, awful idea! They knew just what to do. Making a quick Santy Claus hat and coat, they chuckled and clucked at their clever little trick! With their coat and hat they'll look just like Saint Nick!"

"Hmmm, but what about a reindeer?"

"None could be found."

"Did that stop them?"

"_'No_!' The Lilins simply said, if they couldn't find a reindeer, they'd make one instead."

Mary and the vampires all tilted their heads (in a perfectly synchronized fashion) in thought, this story sounded familiar, yet none could place it.

Speed continued on with his tale. "So they called on their werewolf brethren, picked out one named Max, took some red thread and tied a big horn on his head."

Lash's eyes widened comically in amazement. "That's brilliant!"

Speed smiled warmly at his friend, giving him a look akin to one a parent would give their small child. "Indeed it is. Then the Lilins loaded some bags and old empty sacks on a ramshackle sleigh and hitched up old Max. The vampires said, '_Giddyap!_', and the sleigh started down toward the homes where the mortals lay a-snooze in their town."

At this point the boys' audience could see that this story was taking a very weird turn, yet all was too dumbfounded to take any action to stop it. This is extremely odd seeing as how three of the four audience members were cold blooded killers; you would think that they would be more set on their task for coming here... but the boys were just so damn captivating and serious.

Plus it's vital to the plot that the former bullies properly buy time for help to arrive, so your author, Witty, has no other choice then make a poor rewrite of one of the most classic Christmas tales of all time. Bad rhyming unfortunately included. She apologizes.

Lash turned fully to face his friend, a childlike excitement in his eyes. "Then what happened?"

"Well," Speed paused to take a deep breath before plunging on, "all their windows were dark and snow filled the air, all the mortals dreaming sweet dreams without a care, when the Lilin chosen for this task, we'll call him Dick, came to the first house in the square. '_This is stop number one_.' old Dicky Claus hissed, and then flew on the roof, empty bags in his clawed fist. He floated down the dark chimney, it was a rather tight pinch, Dick was tempted to turn back but realized if he punked out and went home empty handed, he'd look like a bitch.

"So closing his eyes, he traveled on down, unwilling to deal with his kin's taunting and jeers - poor Dick had an inferiority complex and was easily reduced to tears. He got stuck only once, for a moment or two, then stuck his head out of the fireplace flue, where little human stockings all hung in a row. '_These stockings_,' he grinned, '_are the first things to go!_

"He slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant around the whole room, and he took every present! Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums! Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn and plums! He stuffed them in bags, then very nimbly, stuffed all the bags one by one up the chimney! He then slunk to the icebox to take the humans' feast! He took the pudding and the roast beast! He cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash, vampiric powers made this an easy task. Why, that vamp even took their burnt hash! He stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee. _'And NOW!_' grinned Dick,_ 'I will stuff up the tree!' _

"The Lilin grabbed the tree, and he started to shove... then he heard a small sound like the coo of a dove. He turned around fast, and he saw a small human! Little Mindy-Lou, who was not more than two. The Lilin had been caught by this cute little girl, who'd gotten out of bed for a cup of cold water. She stared at the vamp and said, '_Santy Claus, why? Why are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?'_ she cried."

As Speed paused to take a long needed breath, Lash spoke up. "He was caught? That could be bad."

Speed recovered. "Never my lad! Old Dick was so slick he thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick - then remembered he was evil and didn't have to deal with it. Snapping her neck, he shoved her in a sack, shoving her too up the chimney, proclaiming, _'Well, that's that.'_

Then the last thing he took, was the log for their fire, then he flew up the chimney himself, on their walls he left nothing but hooks and some wire. And the one speck of food he left in the house, was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse. He did the same to the other humans houses, leaving crumbs much too small for the other humans mouse's! It was a quarter past dawn, all the humans still in bed, yes all the mortals still a-snooze when he packed up his sled. It was packed with their presents! The ribbons! The wrappings! The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The trappings! Old Maggie Smiths homemade pottery! All these along with little Mindy-Lou's body!

"Three thousand feet up inside the Lilins unnamed lair, he rode to the tiptop to dump all his loot. _'Pooh-pooh to the humans!' _the Lilins were all humming, _'They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming! They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do! Their mouths will hang open a minute or two, then all the humans down in town will cry BOO-HOO!'_. - '_That's a noise,' _grinned Dick,_ 'that I simply must hear.''_, so they all paused and each put a hand their ears." Speed stopped here, a pause for dramatic effect.

Lash leaned forward eagerly. "What'd they hear?"

"A sound rising above the snow. It started in low. Then it started to grow...but the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry!"

Lash looked horrified. "It couldn't be so!"

Speed nodded sadly. "But it WAS merry! _**Very**_! The Lilins stared down, and all their eyes popped. What they saw was such a shocking surprise! Every human all around, young and old, tall and small, was singing! Without any presents at all!"

Lash's eyes gained a sad glow, his mouth pulled into a small pout. "They hadn't stopped Christmas from coming?"

Speed nodded his head, giving a disappointed sigh. "It came. Somehow or other it came just the same. They stood with their feet ice-cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling: How could it be so? It came without ribbons! It came without tags!"

Lash pushed away from the coffin, "It came without packages, boxes or bags!" he added angrily, slapping the side of the silver coffin, causing a loud bang to sound throughout the vault. Mary and the vampires all jumped at the unexpected action, each one unconsciously moving backwards away from the boys.

Speed reached out, placing a calming hand on his friend's shoulder before continuing. "And they puzzled three hours, `till their puzzler's was sore, then Dick thought of something none of them had before! _'Maybe Christmas_,' he thought, _'doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more_!'"

Lash slowly leaned back into his former position against the coffin, calm as ever, as if his little outburst hadn't happened. "And what happened then?"

"Well, " Speed replied, "they say that the Lilins small heart's grew three sizes that day! And the minute their hearts didn't feel quite so tight, they whizzed with their load through the bright morning light. They brought back the toys! And the food for the feast! And Dick, he himself, carved the roast beast!"

"So what of Mindy-Lou?"

"Oh, right, that...the Lilins blamed the werewolf."

"Max? It wasn't his fault! Why would they do that?"

"_Evil_."

"Oh, right."

"Don't feel too bad, I hear there was a nice memorial for both Max and Cindy-Lou, the Lilins paid for it all."

"That was nice of them."

"Yeah."

Silence then took over the room as the boys nodded happily to themselves, both seeming to have been touched by the whole story.

Everyone else however, stared at the boys blankly, until one of the vamps finally found his voice first. "That's several minutes none of us are getting back."

The two other vamps and Mary all nodded silently in agreement, each feeling a little dumber now for having listened to Speed's tale.

Lash once again moved quickly away from the coffin, his face pulled into confusion towards his friend. "Wait, how did they whiz with their load through the bright morning light? They're vampires."

Speed's shoulders sagged, all of his serious story-teller demeanor now gone. "Yeah, that's the one part of the story that makes me think it might all just be gossip," he said with a grin, a small bit a mirth quickly flashed through his aura before he managed to make himself calm again.

But that one instant was enough to snap the Lilins out of it. The one in the middle shook his head as if coming out of a trance, narrowing his eyes at the teens.

"Kill them!" he ordered. His companions moved quickly to follow orders.

Realizing their game was up, the boys instantly moved into action. Speed zoomed over to Mary right before one of the vamps grabbed her, and whizzed her off down the hall, out of the vault, one of the Lilins close behind. Lash quickly stretched himself out, taking the remaining vampires by surprise, he flipped himself over them and shut the vault door. As much as he wanted to follow Speed, he couldn't. Leaving the Lilins alone with Dracula's remains could have ended badly. So instead he took to whipping himself around the room, avoiding their grasps and slapping at them when he could get clear shots. This little game lasted a few minutes before the leader (the one who'd issued the death order) managed to grab him by the throat.

Lash retaliated by wrapping his body tightly around the vampire, cutting off his air-flow. Pulling tightly around the vampire Lash remembered much too late that vampires don't need to breathe. The Lilin smirked at him, "Now what kid, out of tricks?"

The vault door banged open behind them, Speed came sailing in, landing in a crumpled pile by the coffin, smashing into the discarded coolers, breathing heavily. The Lilin who'd chased him and Mary strolled in, Mary slung over his shoulder cussing like a sailor.

The last vampire (who'd been rendered dizzy by some of Lash's stunts, and was currently regaining his equilibrium) moved slowly towards the one holding Lash.

"Don't drink him Jacob, he's a mutant," he spat, as if being a mutant was a bad thing. Considering this came from a vampire (damned for eternity and all that), this comment was rather insulting.

"Hey!" Lash cried indignantly.

Jacob growled and lunged at Lash's face, mouth wide open, with two sets of fangs gleaming dangerously in the dim light. Lash closed his eyes... then re-opened them when nothing happened. Jacob smirked down at him and squeezed his hand harder around Lash's neck. Lash struggled against him for a minute, then stopped as he became weaker from lack of oxygen. Slowly his body un-latched itself from the vampire, unable to keep his grip. As soon as Jacob was free he hurled Lash across the room, causing the young mutants head to slam into the wall.

With a yelp followed by a loud crack, Lash fell to floor unconscious.

Jacob looked at the two teenagers, a small look of interest flitting across his face. "I like them," he said randomly. The other two vampires nodded in agreement.

"Put me down!" Mary screamed from over the other vampire's shoulder. The vampire complied.

Mary went sailing across the room, though not with as much force as Lash had, and landed next to Speed by the coffin. Reaching over she shook his shoulder and received a small groan in response.

"What should we do with them?" asked the Lilin who tossed her.

"Kill them," stated the other unnamed Lilin, as if it was obvious, moving closer to his brothers to survey the humans on the floor.

"Let's keep her. It would be nice to have a Helsing as a pet," the other said in reply. Jacob however shook his head at the suggestion, "If Dracula couldn't keep her, what chance do we have?"

The other two opened their mouths to protest but was instantly cut off by a loud growl.

A loud inhuman growl.

A loud _pissed off _inhuman growl.

A loud pissed off inhuman growl that didn't come from any of them.

Had Fiona been there she could have instantly identified this 'phantom' growl, though she would describe it more as 'whiney' then 'pissed off'.

Mary, unlike her daughter was unable to instantly identify it, so she swung her head around along with the Lilins, trying to place the sound in the small room.

The growl quickly morphed into a roar as blood exploded out of the coffin and drenched the room in the thick red substance. The answer to what was making the noise came much too quickly for the Lilins to defend themselves.

Too late did they realize that they let too much time go by since finding the boys pouring blood into the coffin. A dark blur zoomed across the room and the two unnamed Lilins were beheaded in seconds. Jacob rushed towards Mary, hoping to grab her and use her as leverage against the current threat to his unlife.

Halfway there he found himself grabbed from behind firmly, his head yanked to the side baring his neck.

A deep voice hissed in his ear, yet it also seemed to echo through the room, despite having been said far too low to accomplish such an effect. "I wouldn't suggest that."

At the familiar accented voice Mary finally came out of her shock, grabbing Speed she tried to pull herself and the larger boy away from the two vampires.

Crimson eyes flickered in her direction over Jacobs shoulder for split second before returning to the vampire in his arms. Dracula smirked down at the vampire in his grasp. "I would love nothing more then to drag this out, sadly though, time is not on my side."

With that, Jacobs head was ripped from his body. Holding Jacobs detached head by the hair, Dracula let rest of his body slump to the floor, and surveyed the fallen vampires around him silently.

Meanwhile Speed was trying to wake up Lash, to no avail, and Mary was slowly moving to peek over the coffin to see what was happening. Looking over the coffin she was just in time to see Dracula standing there studying the carnage with Jacobs head hanging limply from his left hand - completely naked and soaked in blood. Her eyes widened at the sight, unsure if she should be amused, horrified, or appreciative of the whole scene.

Dracula gave an irritated snort, oblivious, or possibly just uncaring of, his audience. It seemed Fiona, in all her scheming, had neglected to tell the boys to bring him a change of clothes. He had a small feeling she'd done it intentionally. Reaching into their link he was about lay into her, only to pause at finding her giving off a completely frustrated feeling. Closing his eyes he connected with her fully, now able to see whatever she saw.

Seeing the inside of Warrens room he remembered that she decided to sneak over to the boy's place to talk to him. He'd been drawn away from her little getaway after she'd let herself into the werewolf's house, seeing as how that was the precise time his body finally revived fully. Unfortunately, in order to save Fiona's mother and friends, he'd had to remove himself from watching the newest drama his favorite little idiot had gotten herself into.

"Mind over matter, Warren," Fiona was saying, quoting what Charles Xavier had told her. "You'd be surprised the things you can do if you have to."

The young werewolf shook his head at her words. "It doesn't work like that, not on this."

Dracula felt Fi try not to roll her eyes. "Why is that?" she asked, deciding to humor the boy for a minute.

"Because, for werewolves, mates are for life once they're chosen."

Everything in Fiona froze, causing Dracula to start laughing. This was a rare moment indeed, for Fiona was never speechless.

For the millionth time since it happened he was angry that they couldn't talk to each other anymore. This was prime material to tease her with.

As Warren started in on some sob story about his parents, Dracula rolled his eyes (doing it mainly for Fiona who was far too polite to ever think of doing it herself) and pulled away from their link some, just enough to focus on his own situation, but still able to hear what was happening with her.

Dropping Jacobs head he bent down and started stripping the clothes of off Jacob body... all of which was conveniently his size, and all in black. Zipping up the black jeans he bent down to slip on the boots, catching Mary's eyes, eliciting a small gasp from her before she disappeared again behind the coffin. About to comment to her he was interrupted by humor exploding out of Fi's side of the link. Tuning back in he bent down to tie his new boots.

"Then why," Warren was asking suspiciously, "do you always smell like him?"

There was a small pause from Fiona, her mirth abruptly cut short... and then promptly swarmed through her again, harder this time. "B-because I always w-wear his clothes," she answered, choking on her laughter. "H-he wouldn't t-touch me with a ten foot pole! I'm not his t-type."

Suddenly the power flipped back on and the sirens once again blared throughout the compound, and Dracula could feel people headed towards the vault. Tensing up he blocked the link with Fi completely and moved across the room. Rounding the coffin he spotted Mary and Speed trying to awaken Lash. Speed was even fanning his friend with his hat, hoping to... well, actually, seeing as how Lash had taken a strong blow to the head instead of just fainting, Dracula wasn't sure what Speed was hoping to accomplish.

Spotting him hovering over them, Mary scrambled backwards away from him and the teens.

Dracula smirked down at her, showing a little fang in the process. "Miss me?"

_**~ End Flashback**_

Mary blinked rapidly, trying to get her vision to clear, as the nights events came back to her. After Dracula had finally spoken to her she'd blacked out, and, if she had to take a wild guess, she'd bet it was his doing.

Moving to rub her eyes, she realized that would be a complicated move, seeing as how she's tied up. Catching a small movement to her right she turned her head, and spotted Speed propped up against a large rock beside her own.

"Why did you revive him?"

Speed jerked slightly at her voice, head swiveling in her direction in fright before realizing it was just her. "Fi told us to," he answered after heaving a relieved sigh, grateful it was just her and not some other creature intent on killing him. He'd had enough of that for this week, thank you very much.

Mary instantly shook her head in denial. "No. No, she wouldn't do that."

"Did. She said he'd help fight the Lilins."

"There's no way he would ever -"

"Then why are we at Stonehenge?" he interrupted.

"We...?" Mary trailed off dumbly, letting her eyes take in the area around them. This is indeed Stonehenge - well, this was unexpected.

"But...he...well... wait, no, then why are we tied up?"

"Oh, I'm not tied up." Speed explained moving his free hands into view. "He just didn't want you to run away, said you're very panicky like that."

And Dracula had pegged her well, she had common sense after all; how else would she react? Calm and collected? No, sorry, panicked and scared out of her mind is the only sane reaction here. He's _**Dracula **_for Gods sake, who wouldn't run? Aside from stupid teenage male mutants. Mary makes a mental to have a long talk with her daughter about her choice of friends when this is all over. You know, if they survive at least.

"You have to untie me."

"Yeah, he said you'd try that. Sorry, no can do." Speed apologized, turning to face her a little better.

"He will kill us," she bit out, trying not to speak too loud in case _he_'s near.

"Yeah, he said you'd say that too. And don't try pulling some sort of weepy female 'Oh I'm scared!' crap on me either," Speed warned, not wanting to deal with her games. He is way too tired to humor her at this point in time.

"He is a killer, we need to..." Mary trailed off as she caught sight of something on Speeds neck. Her eyes widened in horror. "That Lilin bit you! Oh Lord, we don't know what all the effects of their bites -"

"Chill! The Lilin didn't bite me," he said, cutting her off.

"Then who... oh God._ He _bit you! That's why you're on his side!"

"I'm on _Fiona's_ side, and she believes we can trust him, so I will."

"And letting him drink from you does what?"

"It got us here pretty damn fast," Speed mumbled, looking away, unable to hold her gaze any longer. He believed he's done the right thing, yes, but letting the man drink from him had been a very awkward experience. One he did not want to remember anytime soon.

"By drinking my blood he was able to tap into my mutation powers or something, combining it and his own supernatural speed we got here in half the time."

"What did he do to Lash?" Mary asked, just now remembering the other boy.

Speed gave an exasperated sigh, "He didn't _**do**_anything. We needed to get out of there, security was coming, so we left him."

"He was injured -"

"That's why we left him. The Order would be able to take care of him better then we could at the time; we needed to get here. Prophecies aren't big on time-outs for injured players - unless there's a loophole I don't know about."

"He's your friend." Mary said in disbelief, unable to understand how he could just leave Lash.

"That's why I left him... do you really think he'd be better off with us? His head was bashed into a concrete wall, he needed medical care, not us dragging his unconscious body around just so he wouldn't feel excluded!" Speed snapped at her... then upon realizing what he'd done cleared his throat sheepishly. "Ma'am," he added lightly.

Their little conversation was cut short as Dracula appeared out of nowhere, standing in front of Speed.

Speed perked up. "Hey Drac! Just filling her in -"

"Leave us."

Speed nodded instantly, moving sluggishly to his feet. "Going."

"And do not call me that."

"Never again," the boy readily agreed, quickly heading away from them, down the hill and out of the circle of large stones.

Mary glared defiantly up at Dracula. "I don't know how you tricked Fiona -"

"You should know by now that that is quite an impossible task. Even for me, unfortunately," he interrupted.

"She would never do this, she knows better."

"And you know too little."

"What are you talking about?"

Dracula stalked towards her, kneeling down beside her slowly, his face unreadable. "She lied to you about me. I've always been connected to her, with her, more so then when I was with you. I lived inside her, every moment she's ever lived was shared by me. And she knew."

"She..." Mary tried, yet nothing came out. She was speechless. Partly because of his words, and partly because he wasn't trying to thrall her. No, her mind was way to clear for him to be doing that. Good Lord, he was actually intent to speak naturally with her; no games. This was new.

"And she never told you," he added, his tone slightly smug, a small spark of genuine amusement was in his eyes at her reaction to his actions. He knew that letting her think clearly had thrown her off... if there was one thing he'd learned from observing Fiona's actions over the years, it was that being unpredictable was much more funnier then having people expecting certain things from you. Plus it got you further, no one was ever prepared for you.

Mary finally found her voice. "You can't have her. She won't change for you-"

"You misunderstand, as usual. There is nothing about her I wish to change, I enjoy her as she is... she is more powerful then you understand, Mary."

Mary's eyes narrowed at his wistful tone when speaking of her daughter. "If you hurt her, I'll kill you."

"Again?" He said in mock horror, then shook his head ruefully. "You never understood did you? I wouldn't ever harm you, why else would I let you go? You are a part of me, and for that I will never kill you, and should anyone else ever hurt you, I'll kill them. The same goes for Fiona... and possibly Jake, he amuses me. But not Simon."

Mary lifted her head, her face contorting with confusion. "You're different," she stated, her eyes searching his face, trying to place what was wrong with him. She couldn't explain it, but his actions, words, and entire presence felt different.

"For the past fifteen years I've been living inside a_ girl_, believe me, that will change any mans view of life; evil or not. Especially when she hit puberty," he added with a small shudder. At Mary's wide eyes he grinned slightly, then went on seriously. "You should be proud of her, despite her poor grades in school, she is very smart. She is every bit a Helsing, which is a good thing because from what I've seen, you are not."

Confusion gone, she now just felt offended. "I beat you," she points out.

He waved his hand as if brushing aside her words. "Fluke," he retorted, his tone clearly playful.

Dear God, he was being playful...

"What has she done to you?" Mary asked, not sure how her daughter could have pulled this off.

"Don't be fooled, I'm still me. I will do my part to help Fiona with this prophecy, but I will not be wearing a white hat anytime soon."

Mary felt her world completely tilting upside down; he was serious. He was going to help. Swallowing down her shock she lifted her tied hands towards him. "I won't run."

At her words his eyes flashed red, and a sadistic grin appeared. "Well now, I don't see the fun of things if you don't want to run. I'll have to change your mind I guess."

Okay, maybe he wasn't all that different. Her panic began to set back in as the old Dracula seemed to be appearing before her eyes, the new playful one gone. "You said you'd never kill me."

"And I won't... that doesn't mean you won't beg me to though."

"I- I thought -"

"You forget, my dear, you _did_ betray me. That cannot go unpunished."

"You want favor with Fi? This wont get you there," she said, trying to play on the only thing she could think of.

"I already have_ favor -_as you call it_- _with her, and she knows how I am, she will not be shocked at my actions."

Fangs gleaming he leaned in towards her slowly. Mary then did something that she would hate herself for later, but in her defense her world _did_ just get turned upside down. She's stressed, so she's entitled. As her eyes rolled back into her head Dracula stopped, smiling in disbelief as she went limp.

He chuckled, not having expected her to actually faint. Scream, beg, or cuss yes, but not faint.

"Dude, she fainted," Speed stated obviously, having been spying the whole time. Dracula stood back up, turning to the boy, all traces of amusement gone.

"Grab her and follow me," he ordered, turning around to head to the center of the old shrine.

"You figured out what to do?"

After a small pause, in which the vampire studied the old stones thoughtfully, he replied. "Yes. Tell me, how far along are you in your magic studies?"

"Still in level one," Speed said, just having made it back inside the ring of stones with him. Dracula raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"Let me rephrase; what level books have you and Lash studied illegally by yourselves?"

Speed cracked a smile. "We're at level ten."

The vampire nodded, having suspected as much. "And what is the highest level you can actually accomplish?"

"Six."

"Good, you'll be able to help me then."

Speed cocked his head at the vampire, unsure if he should be excited or worried over what's about to happen. "What are you planning to do?"

Dracula smirked. "I believe you kids these days call it the TGB spell."

Speeds face quickly mimicked Dracula's with a devious smirk.

"Lash is going to be pissed that he missed this," he snickered.

Dracula's smirk widened into a smile, showing fang. "As will Fiona."

That fact alone made this all very worth it as far as Dracula is concerned.


	12. Chapter 11: Oh, Come On!

Disclaimer: Nothing from Sky High, Dracula 2000, X-Men, or any other movie/cartoon/comic/book/tv show that I might reference later on belong to me. All I own is Fiona, Jake, and the plot... or anything/one else you don't recognize. Basically, if you can google it and get nowhere then it's probably all mine.

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**To everyone who has reviewed, favorited, put this on alert, and messaged me, I LUV YOU! Seriously. Knowing people have enjoyed reading this makes my day! My year! My lifetime! Everything.**

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**These last three chapters have been so hard to finish ever since I decided to change some things around, but I think I have it all figured out now. As always, sorry for the wait. I dunno when the next chapter will be up, but don't worry, it will happen. At some point.**

**Warning: Grammar and spellcheck isn't fully done on this chapter. Plus some parts really drag on with explaining things, but I just wanted to go ahead and post it for everyone since it was all written up. Ignore the badness, it shall be fixed and edited later. :)**

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******"That girl, Hazel Raven, is so cool. She can turn into a raven and spew fire out of her beak like a dragon! Maybe we should call her up." - Line written by fanfictionDOTnet member, Hazel-Raven. **

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_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^;**_

**Chapter Eleven: Oh, Come On!**

_**:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^:^;**_

Fiona raced down the street towards the Paper Lantern, expertly dodging everyone (and thing) crossing her path. So lost in her worry over young Toby, she didn't even bother to try and conceal her vampiric powers. Fiona gracefully leaped over cars and people, moving so fast that even Speed would have had trouble keeping up with her.

Reaching the small restaurant she came to a screeching halt, her sudden appearance startling several pedestrians. Spotting the young werewolf, calmly sitting on the sidewalk waiting for her, she sped towards him, ignoring the stares of everyone else.

"Toby! Are you okay?" she cried hurriedly, eyes darting around for any signs of Lilins, despite the fact that it's daytime. In her defense, there couldn't possibly be any vampires, but there _could _be werewolves out and about. So there! Panic and rash decision justified.

Toby stood up and grabbed her hand. "Come on, we need to go."

Fi stared dumbly for a second, taken aback at his calm attitude. "Go where?"

"There's a small chapel at the back of Grove cemetery, we need to go there."

"...Why?"

"Cemeteries and churches are both hallowed ground, I figure two-in-one is the best bet."

"Best bet for what?"

"To keep you safe until the eclipse is over."

"How do you know about that?"

"I just do, come on!" he said beginning to sound impatient, pulling insistently on her hand. Fiona allowed herself to be dragged behind his small frame as they raced through the streets. Two minutes into the trip Fiona picked the boy up and proceeded to carry him, realizing they are heading towards the outskirts of town.

Five minutes later finds them in a small cemetery, hidden by a small patch of woods. Aside from appearing old it also looks extremely unkept. Fiona wonders if the city even know it's still here. Setting Toby down gently, she let her senses scan the area for any threats. Finding none she took a cautious step forward through the old rusted gates.

"Alright, why don't you tell me what this is all about."

Toby gave an innocent smile and turned around, heading further into the cemetery. Fiona watched him, her agitation growing now that her worry for him has subsided. After he called she'd raced up to her room, grabbed her leather duster (in case she needed weapons), and left the house without a word to anyone - except a quick 'be back later' to a confused Jake still sitting at the kitchen table where she left him.

Simon was going to blow a fuse over this but she didn't really care at the time. All that had registered in her mind is that Toby was calling, telling her to hurry because the Lilins were coming. Worry overrode common sense when she realized what he had said.

It wasn't until right now, watching him calmly walk ahead of her through an old abandoned graveyard, that the thought of this being a trap of some kind entered her brain.

Fate definitely needs to start picking smarter, less panicky, people for this sort of thing.

Toby stopped and looked back her quizzically. "Are you coming?"

Fiona stretched her senses out to him, unable to feel any malice but she did feel something slightly off about him. "Listen Curly, I'd really like to know what's going on."

"Me too."

Fiona whipped around in surprise to see Jake behind her, in full slayer gear. "How did you find me?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "There's a tracking device in your dusters lining."

Fiona fought back a groan, because if he followed her then the others weren't far behind. Seeing her look, Jake shook his head. "Don't worry, I blocked the tracking access to us on my way here. I figured you didn't want the others to follow."

Fi smiled, her eyes shining with relief and amusement. "You're such a good lackey!" she crooned to him in a silly voice, much like one would use when speaking to a dog who just preformed a good trick... or did something so stupid it was cute. Either way you get the idea.

"Yeah, well, this Igor is on strike until he gets some answers." Jake replied, moving towards her.

"I might be on strike too," she countered, turning back to look at Toby, who's been silent during their little exchange. "What's going on?"

"Well Master," the boy began, a strange glint in his eyes, "you're just going to have to _trust _me."

Jake, having just reached her side, paused and looked at the werewolf. Fiona also froze on the spot, watching as the boy turned and began walking on ahead of them. Barely a few seconds passed before what he said registered in both teens minds.

_Trusting a wolf of the owls blood will bring forth the final play; and a little child shall lead them, yes only the child can lead the way._

That line had nothing to do with Warren, it was about Toby. Riddles seriously suck.

Jake, his eyes still trained on Toby, leaned towards Fiona. "Are we in agreement on this?"

Fi nodded, her gaze also on the child. "Oh yeah."

"Should we trust this? It could still be a trick."

Fi shrugged, moving forward slowly, Jake right beside her. "We're almost out of time anyway, this is better then doing nothing."

"You know I'm still mad about the whole lying to me thing, right?" Jake remarked as they continued cautiously down the path, a good distance behind the little werewolf.

"That why you followed me?"

"I followed you because there's an evil vampire spirit that wants to possess you in a couple of hours. Alone and without protection is the last thing you need to be."

"So you're only here to save my ass from a ghost?"

"Yes. When this is over we're going to have a long talk - and by that I mean I'm going to talk at you. Loudly. You're going to sit there and take it silently. Various items may even be thrown at you, but it will be in your best interest not to dodge them or retaliate."

"And if we're dead?"

"Believe me, dead or alive, I'll find the time to lecture you," he replied seriously.

Fi cocked her head towards him, her eyes finally leaving Toby. "I am sorry Jay... I just thought everything was better this way."

Jake didn't reply, just continued walking without looking at her. Fiona sighed, turning back to face the path in front of her.

Moments later the path lead to a small chapel that, much like the little cemetery around it, appeared long forgotten. Toby, seeming completely oblivious to the possible dangers of going into an old decrepit building, literally skipped up the creaky wooden steps and entered the church. Never once looking back to see if they were following.

Fi paused at the bottom step, and stretched out her senses. "I still don't feel anything," she informed Jake standing behind her, waiting on the verdict.

"Then let's go in, but keep scanning the area," he ordered, starting up the steps as Fiona moved to walk dutifully behind him.

Walking into the church Fi grimaced at the state of the place. It's a wonder their feet touching the floor didn't bring the whole building down. The only pews left intact are the ones in front, sitting before the small stage where a sturdy podium still stands atop it. A large wooden cross hangs crookedly on the wall behind it all, with broken stain glass windows on each side of it. Completing the eerie scene, sunlight shines through the broken windows and holes in the ceiling, giving random beams of light throughout the dimmed room.

Standing side by side in the middle of the aisle, Jake and Fiona look expectantly up at Toby. The young werewolf sits nonchalantly on the edge of the stage, feet hanging off the side, smiling back at them.

Fiona stretched her senses out to him again, still feeling a slight difference to his usual aura. It feels like him, but older. Much older. Fi's eyes narrowed.

"You're not Toby," She accused, though she really wasn't certain. It feels so much like the young werewolf... but not. However, there is no deceit or malice coming from him.

"Took you long enough."

"Who are you?"

"Not Lilith if that's what you're worried about."

"We're just supposed to take your word on that?" Jake asked with a snort.

Toby (or whoever is possessing him) rolled his eyes. "Lilith only has _**one**_ shot at getting a new vessel, so unless you missed an eclipse on the way over, then no, I can't be her."

Fi shook her head slowly, cutting Jake off before he could retort, all her senses locking in on the tiny werewolf. "It's not Lilith, I remember her signature. What do you mean by you're 'not exactly' Toby?"

A small grin spread across Toby's face. "I _am_ Toby Peace... in _this _life. In my last life, I had a different name."

"Reincarnation isn't real. Try again, demon." Jake said impatiently, not in the mood for games. Fiona said nothing, still studying the werewolf's aura.

"For humans it isn't real. They die and then they sleep till the final trumpet. The rest of us however, is a different story."

"_I__t is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment_ – that's the rule." Jake replied, easily quoting the scripture.

"Yes, it's appointed unto _men_. Hu_man_." Toby countered, a patient smile on his young face. Jake began to retort, but paused, glancing at Fiona for her opinion.

Fiona shrugged lightly. "I'm not sure about the rules... but I know that this is Toby. He's just older now. Freakishly older; very cavemanish."

Toby's smile morphed into an odd mix of a grimace and a pout. "Hey, careful."

"What's going on?" Jake asked, trying to keep things on topic. There really isn't time for Toby/not-Toby to rant about being old. He can deal with his age issues later. Preferably without Jake there to listen to it.

"Normally reincarnates don't remember their full past lives until they're older, but in this case I, or Toby, was born with mutant powers. Being able to see the future sped up the process for me," Toby replied.

A beat.

"Toby Peace is a seer? Seriously, does that family do anything by the book?" Jake asked with more than just a bit of agitation. Seers, mutant or not, are required to have their names on certain lists for the government, and the Order. No one with the surname of Peace is on these lists. That's definitely something they would have noticed when they began checking out Warrens family.

Fiona moved forward a step towards the werewolf, her mind racing to put everything together. "But the change in you is massive. Are you telling me that you've always known, since before I met you, that you lived before?"

Toby paused, head tilted thoughtfully, meeting her gaze steadily. "Well, no, not really," he admitted. "Before I knew you, I only had flashes of my life before... feelings that I've done certain things before. However, I was still only Toby then, my past hadn't fully combined with my present. I was still the young boy I should be in this time."

"What changed?"

"Lilith's prophecy and self preservation. The closer it came to today, the more I remembered. Last night everything finally came back to me."

"So you _are _the child in the prophecy?"

"Yes."

"All it says is that you'll lead me, what does self-preservation have to do with it?"

A chuckle escaped him as a mischievous light lit his eyes. "All it says, yeah, you'll learn that what prophecies say are very rarely all the needed details. That's actually a whole other story – rant really – but to answer your question, if I had remained unaware I would have been a sitting duck for Lilith."

"How?"

"_Vessel of her choosing_; it doesn't have to be you or Judas, anyone would work. As a seer I'm more in tune with the astral plain then others, making me ripe for the picking. With my memories in tact I have full control of myself and abilities, she doesn't stand a chance of taking my body. Even if Cain attacks, I'm safe."

"I can protect you from Cain."

"You can't."

Fiona almost childishly stomped her foot, but refrained. "Yes I can."

"No you can't. Didn't you ever wonder why Lilith was working so hard to get Dracula's body before yours?"

Jake and Fi both looked at each other in thought before turning back to the werewolf. "Because he's a pureblood, like her," Jake supplied for them both. Fiona nodded once in agreement with the statement.

"Yes, but so is Cain. Now why would she go through all that trouble when she could have easily taken Cains body? She would know where to find him, she's the one who trapped him, so surely she could get his body out," Toby said, pointing out the obvious.

Silence reigned throughout the small chapel for a moment before Toby's eyes rolled at their stupidity. "It's destroyed. Gone. Ceasing to exist," he explained. "Cain is on the astral plane, like Lilith. His body is completely dust."

"Wait. How could that be? Gramps said Cain was under Stonehenge," Fi said, struggling to understand.

"He is," came the simple reply.

Fiona blinked. "But... huh? His body is destroyed, but he's under Stonehenge?"

"The astral plane exists all around us, just on a different level. It's just beyond our sight and reach. When Lilith killed Cain she used a spell to keep his soul in a certain area of the astral world. Stonehenge is the area she chose, the stones are even part of the cage."

Jake moved to sit down on one of the old pews in front. "But how come Lilith gets free reign on the astral plane? Hakan trapped her the same way she did Cain."

"He _supposedly_ trapped her, no one knows what really happened," Fiona reminded Jake.

"Lilith managed to break through. I had no doubt that she would eventually; she stayed there longer then I thought she would, to be honest." Toby said, causing both teens to snap their gazes back to him. Was he saying what it sounded like he was saying?

"Then you... you're Hakan Aurelius?" Jake asked, eyes wide.

"I was." Toby nodded.

Fiona smirked, unable to stop herself. "You're your own grandpa?"

Toby gave her an unamused look. "Ha."

"If Cain is trapped over there, why would he be a danger to you or anyone here?" she asked.

Toby sighed. "Now that, I don't know. I had a vision of him being free, but I don't know how it happened."

"Do you think Cain would side with Lilith?"

"Cain was very broody and bitter, but despite that, I think he'll side with us. He won't go against God."

"But he's the first murderer." Jake pointed out.

"And the second pure vampire." Fi added.

"Cain_ is _the first murderer, but he didn't know what murder was. He was angry at his little brother and decided to give him a good thumping, it's a sibling thing. The difference was that back then there was no known boundaries. Killing Abel was an accident." Toby stated.

Fiona moved to lean against the pew Jake was currently sitting in. "Then why curse him?" she questioned, unable to see the fairness of that story.

"God couldn't _not _punish him. Cain's actions were still wrong. Granted, he didn't know that he would kill his brother, but he _did_ intend to severely hurt him. Cain had bad intentions, a need to hurt someone, and that's wrong. A sin is a sin no matter how you look at it," Toby explained. "Especially in those days when the world was just getting started, an example had to be made, I guess."

"That still sounds unfair." Jake chimed in.

"_And the Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brothers keeper?" _Toby quoted, then gave a rueful smile and continued._ "_After Cain asked that, Abel's blood cried to God from the ground. I can only assume that God thought it was fitting to turn the experience around on Cain for lying. Blood calls to vampires, but Cain wasn't evil, so he had to resist his urges to blindly kill for it."

Now this is something Fiona could understand. Cain would have felt the same way she does. The blood of everyone (even animals, but to a lesser extent) calls out to her whenever she's near them, and she has to fight the urge to claim it. Struggle against her very nature. The nature of a killer. Cain was like her; a human, with human thoughts and feelings, trapped in a body that's instincts didn't care about right or wrong. It only cared about sustaining it's lust for blood.

The whole experience _is_ painful.

As if just realizing something Jake sat up straighter in his seat. "Then what was the mark?" he questioned.

Fiona glanced over at him. "The what?"

"The mark. Cain was cursed for his sin and then later asked God for protection of some kind, I forgot how it goes," he replied impatiently to her before looking back at Toby for an answer.

"_And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. _

_And Cain said unto the Lord, 'My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.'_

_And the Lord said unto him, 'Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.' And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him_." Toby quoted without missing a beat.

How he did that, Fi would never understand. She couldn't even memorize her email password.

"Tillist the ground? His curse was not being able to farm?" she asked in confusion.

"That's the edited version Fi, the Bible can't actually say he was turned into a vampire," Jake answered, rolling his eyes at her.

"Actually, from what I remember, he couldn't even get _weeds_ to grow around his home. So that curse was real too, the vampire part was just taken out," Toby added.

"But _what_ was the mark?" Jake asked again.

"The mark was a change to his vampirism. His fangs permanently showed, and his eyes constantly glowed yellow. Nobody could mistake who he was."

Jake pursed his lips, thinking it all over. "So he was trapped in vamp mode. At least he didn't sparkle."

"God isn't _that_ cruel." Toby quipped back.

As interesting as that is, Fiona's mind is caught up on another part of the story. Slowly the pieces were falling into place for her. Questions that had plagued everyone for ages was so easily answered, yet no one had ever connected it before.

"You didn't kill Lilith did you?" Fiona asked Toby, formerly the one and only Hakan Aurelius. The very person believed to have killed Lilith, but his methods unknown.

A small smile stretched across the boys face. "I was there, I watched it happen, but I had nothing to do with it."

Jake looked between the two of them with his eyes narrowed in confusion. "Huh?"

"Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. When Lilith destroyed Cain, she destroyed herself. When she trapped him in the astral plane, she trapped herself too." Fiona said, biting back a proud smirk. It was nice to finally figure something out on her own.

Jake, needing only a second to take all that in, turned to Toby. "Then how come she isn't still under Stonehenge too?"

The werewolf shrugged. "She found a way out. It's not surprising, she's much older than Cain, and far more crafty."

"But if Cain wasn't really evil, why did he remain under Stonehenge and not just pass on?"

"No idea."

Fiona raised a sarcastic eyebrow at Toby. "I thought that in death all questions are answered?"

Amusement danced in Toby's eyes. "I guess it doesn't work when you're still on repeat. So, now that we're past the explanations, would you like to hear my plan for you to escape Lilith?"

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"I'm going to kill them!"

"Simon calm down, I'm sure they have a good reason." Molly said sternly, trying to calm her younger brother down.

Simon rounded on her, a sarcastic smile on his face. "Oh, well, then okay! Everything's better now! Thank you very much," he growled.

"It's true, uncle Simon! Fi wouldn't have done this without a good reason," Layla interjected, causing Simon's head to swivel almost unnaturally in her direction. It was actually a very comical sight. It would have only been better if he spewed pea soup to complete the scene.

"Fiona's judgment isn't something I trust anymore. Maybe no one's filled you kids in on this, but she released Dracula." He said through clenched teeth to the group of teens sitting around the front room.

Layla, Will, Zach, Magenta, Ethan, and Sara gasped in shock. Warren, who was currently standing by the front door, lowered his eyes to the ground, face unreadable.

"Are you sure there's no way of tracing them?" The Commander asked, trying to take charge of the situation, something no one else seemed able to do. Panic, fear, and lack of information is extremely crippling like that.

"They turned off their tracking devices." Hank replied from his spot over on the staircase. A laptop propped open on his lap, apparently trying to get a signal on Jake and Fiona, he appeared almost as frustrated as Simon. Almost.

Well, okay, not even close. But honestly, Simon's rage is a tough act to follow.

"Mary didn't even want Fiona to leave the Order to come here, I should have just listened to her. God, I never thought Fiona would be so stupid!" Simon ranted, starting to pace.

Warrens eyes lifted from the ground, narrowing in on Fiona's uncle. He let out a small growl. "She wouldn't have done it without a reason. Fiona's insane, not stupid."

Simon's eyes landed on the tall mutant, just now realizing he was there. "For all we know, you're one of her mistakes."

No sooner did those words leave Simons mouth, Warrens eyes turned blacker than coal. Arms bursting into flames, Warren hurled himself at Simon. So quick was the attack, the older man didn't have time to react or defend himself.

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"Are you crazy? No way!" Fiona squealed, straightening up from her spot against the pew. Shaking her head she stared incredulously at Toby as he watched her from the stage.

"If it's controlled you won't be harmed, neither will I." Toby reassured her.

"If anything, wouldn't this give Lilith more control?" she countered, backing away one step.

"I'm a pureblood werewolf and seer with complete control of myself, there's no way she'll break it. On top of that you love me – or, well, the boy I was - that will help ground you."

"There has to be a better way."

"Fi I think he may have a point. It makes sense...in an insane kind of way. But somehow that always works for you," Jake said, cutting into the argument.

"Not you too! Jay I've never...I- I can't. What if I mess up?"

"You won't."

"But -"

"I'm staying right here, I'll pull you off."

Fiona felt her heart skip a beat in panic. "What? No, Jay, please."

"It's worth a shot Fiona. Like you said, it's better than doing nothing." He said softly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"There isn't much time left," Toby said, finally standing up from his spot on the edge of the stage.

Jake leaned in closer to Fi, giving her a small hug. "I trust you," he whispered in her ear.

At that, after everything their friendship had been put through today with the whole Dracula thing, Fi's resolve crumbled. He still trusted her.

"I... okay. But turn our locator's back on," she said, giving in.

"They'll be here in minutes, are you sure?" Jake questioned, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded solemnly. "If something goes wrong then you'll have help already on it's way."

* * *

"Out of my way, Will!" Warren hissed as the youngest Stronghold sprung himself between Simon and Warren, stopping his werewolf friend in his tracks.

"Sorry man, can't do that. You need to calm down," Will responded calmly, trying to defuse the situation.

Warren wasn't quite ready to accept Wills peacemaking. "He deserves what he gets," he growled, eyes never leaving Simon over Will's shoulder.

"Maybe, but when Fi finds out you killed her uncle how do you think that will end? You really want to answer for that? She's small, but she's also violent and resourceful," Will reasoned.

"Like a Chihuahua," Zach added from the other side of the room. Ethan nodded in agreement. Everyone else pointedly ignored them.

"Warren please calm down," Layla begged, slowly moving to stand beside her boyfriend in front of Warren, acting as another shield for her uncle.

The tension was broken when Sherry came bounding into the room from the kitchen. "We've got a problem!"

Simon, who by this point swore he could literally feel the ulcers forming on his stomach, turned to her. "What now?"

"Early this morning, Stonehenge was blown up."

Now that calmed Warren down, his flames instantly sucked back into his arms. Everyone stared in disbelief at the female slayer.

Simon recovered from the shock first. "Oh, come on! Why are we just now hearing about this?"

Sherry shrugged. "I don't know, I still can't get in contact with any of our people over there."

Hank squinted at her. "Then how did you hear about this?"

"I turned on the tv to check the weather, to see if anything was being said about the eclipse. Every news channel is covering this."

Silence engulfed the room as everyone took in what she said.

Josie Stronghold shook her head lightly. "You don't think Dracula... he found Cain?" she asked slowly, voicing everyone's thoughts.

Hearing Dracula's name was all Simon needed to be pulled from his frantic musings. His mind snapping back into focus he looked at Sherry.

"Get every slayer in town here, now. And I want every single mage we have tracking Fiona and Jake."

Sherry nodded, already moving to follow his orders.

"How much longer until the eclipse?" Layla asked, worry evident in her tone.

"One hour," Simon replied to his niece, moving towards the coffee table where his own laptop was sitting.

"We're going to need backup, get every active super in the area here," The Commander said, following Simon.

"That girl, Hazel Raven, is so cool. She can turn into a raven and spew fire out of her beak like a _dragon__! _Maybe we should call her up," Zach chimed in from the couch.

Everyone blinked and turned to look at him blankly.

"She goes to school with us," he elaborated when no one replied.

Tim, another slayer, who was sitting a few steps higher on the staircase behind Hank looked up from his own computer. "Are you sure you want to involve the mutants?" he asked Simon.

"What does that mean?" The Commander sputtered, turning to Tim.

"This is a powerful demon we're dealing with, not a mutant. I'm not sure you all will be safe," Tim replied without tact or caution.

Fortunately, before that comment could start a fight, Hank suddenly perked up.

"Hey! Hey! I got a single." He said loudly in excitement.

Feeling a small spark of hope, Simon eagerly scrambled back over towards the stairs. "Where are they?"

"Grove Cemetery."

"Alright, split up, one team goes with me to get them and... where did the flaming werewolf go?" Simon asked, looking around the room in confusion.

As Zach cackled in the background at that description of Warren, Will and Layla turned to look at the spot where their friend had been standing minutes ago, only to find it empty.

Noticing the front door standing open Will sprinted out it, calling over his shoulder. "I got him!"

With that he tapped into his flying ability and zoomed down the street, hoping his power was enough to catch up with Warrens own super speed. Josie followed her son out the door, ignoring her husbands protests at going alone.

"Just hurry up and follow us," she ordered, disappearing down the road behind Will.

* * *

Stumbling tiredly down the old path inside Grove Cemetery, Will followed behind a fuming and worried Warren, with Josie walking slowly behind them, keeping an eye out for threats.

"Warren, we shouldn't be doing this. We need to wait for back up."

"Then go back and wait for them!" Warren snapped, continuing his stride, pausing to sniff the air occasionally before going on. It reminded Will very much of a dog. He didn't think Warren would appreciate any bloodhound jokes at the moment though, so he stayed quiet.

Minutes later they found themselves entering a little run down chapel. Will looked around cautiously as they entered, silently glad his mother was with him in this eerie place. Not that he's scared. It's just that... that... uh. Oh, screw it, the place is freaky as hell, and knowing the situation they're in makes it worse. He's allowed to be scared. You would be too.

"We shoul- what?" Will began, but cut himself off at the look on Warrens face.

"Toby?" Warren whispered in disbelief.

Following Warrens gaze, both Will and his mother gasped at the sight up on the stage in front of the pulpit.

"Oh my..." Josie breathed out, her face going pale.

"Toby!" Warren yelled, running up to the stage where his little brother laid in a crumpled and bloody heap on the floor. Will followed close behind, noticing another body on the floor behind the pulpit.

"Jake!" he exclaimed, moving towards Layla's cousin, who didn't look any better off then Toby.

Josie looked around the church quickly instead of following them, making sure nothing was going to jump out and attack them. "Where's Fiona?" she asked quietly, not liking this situation at all.

Warrens growl echoed through the church, startling both Josie and Will with the inhuman sound. "She did this," he hissed.

"No way!" Will exclaimed, running his hands over Jake, trying to find a pulse.

"I know her scent! Her saliva is all over his neck!" the werewolf roared in return, his eyes turning black as his little brother's breathing became more ragged and heartbeat slower. Warren quickly lit his hands on fire, placing them over the wounds on Toby's neck, searing them to stop the bleeding.

Moving Jake's head to the side, Will saw bite marks on his neck as well. Definitely vampire marks. On the jugular. With no blood flowing from them. With shaky hands, Will tried one last time to find a pulse.

Nothing.

"Jake's dead." Will said, almost in a daze.

The situation doesn't feel real to him - it couldn't be real. What's worse is that it's still daytime, so there's no way a normal vampire could have done this. The whole church is filled with scattered beams of sunlight, due to broken windows and the ceiling being half collapsed.

"There's no way Fi would... unless..." Will muttered, but froze as realization dawned on him, his body going numb.

"Lilith got her."


End file.
